London-based GTBank’s ‘particularly egregious’ conduct and serious AML weaknesses lead to US$9.4 million fine
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Guaranty Trust Bank UK (GT Bank) £7.7 million (US$9.4 million) for serious weaknesses in its anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls between October 2014 and July 2019. The bank provides export, import, standby and back-to-back letters of…
Santander fined £108 million by UK regulator for repeated AML failures
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Santander UK nearly £108 million (US$133 million) for repeated anti-money laundering (AML) failures. The regulator of financial services firms and financial markets in the UK says it found “serious and persistent gaps” in the bank’s AML controls…
Ghana International Bank fined £5.8 million for AML/CFT failings in correspondent banking activities
Ghana International Bank (GIB) has been fined £5.8 million (US$6.9 million) by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for poor anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) financing controls over its correspondent banking activities. London based GIB did not adequately perform checks, neither did…
NatWest fined £264.8 million for AML failings
National Westminster Bank (NatWest) has been fined £264.8 million (US$349.4 million) following convictions for three offences of failing to comply with money laundering regulations. The bank pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year in the first ever case in which the UK’s Financial Conduct…
HSBC fined nearly US$64 million for failings in AML systems
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined HSBC Bank £63.9 million (US$84.4 million) for failings in its anti-money laundering (AML) processes. Despite the bank’s use of automated processes to monitor hundreds of millions of transactions a month to identify possible financial crime, the FCA…
Wholesale banking, retail banking and wealth management sectors pose greatest money laundering risk
The wholesale banking, retail banking and wealth management sectors in the UK remain vulnerable to financial crime and pose the greatest money laundering risk based on sector risk assessments by the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). According to the UK treasury’s Anti-money laundering and counterterrorist…
NatWest profits dented by expected fine for AML breaches
NatWest Bank has booked a £294 million (US$402 million) litigation charge in its quarterly results released 29 October to pay for anti-money laundering (AML) failures that led to censure from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A huge fine is in prospect. The bank in…
Trade finance banks not doing enough to detect fraud and crime say UK regulators
British regulators have written an unusually blunt letter to the CEOs of the UK’s largest banks ordering them to conduct a full financial crime risk assessment of their processes to detect money laundering, sanctions evasion, terrorist financing and fraud among their clients. The Bank of…
War against money laundering being lost
The global system for financial crime is hugely expensive and largely ineffective according to The Economist. The international weekly newspaper and online publisher concludes in an article that the war against money-laundering is being lost.
UK regulator brings first prosecution of a bank for money laundering
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it has commenced criminal proceedings against National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest) in respect of offences under money laundering regulations enacted in 2007. This is the first criminal prosecution under the act by the FCA and the…
