UK fines GTBank £7.6m over ‘money laundering system failures’

Akinwande Soji-Ojo

Britain’s financial watchdog,Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has fined the UK subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) £7.6 million ($9.3 million) for what it says are further failures in its anti-money-laundering systems and controls.

In a statement on Tuesday, FCA said GTBank has not disputed the findings and agreed to settle, making it eligible for a 30 per cent discount on the fine, down from the original £10.96 million ($13.3m).

“These weaknesses were repeatedly highlighted to GT Bank by internal and external sources, including the FCA, but despite this, GT Bank failed to take appropriate action to fix them.

“GT Bank’s conduct is particularly egregious as this is not the first time that the bank has faced enforcement action in relation to its AML controls,” the statement said.

Reacting in a statement, the managing director of GTBank UK, Gbenga Alade, said the bank takes its anti-money laundering obligations extremely serious.

He noted the finacial watchdog’s findings with regret, adding that the FCA found no instances of suspected money laundering.

“We would like to assure all our stakeholders and the general public that necessary steps have been taken to address and resolve the identified gaps,” Alade said.

 In August 2013, the FCA fined GTBank €525,000 ($627,323) for running foul of the regulations.

“Banks are at the front line in ensuring the proceeds of crime do not enter the UK financial system.GT Bank’s failures were serious and systemic and resulted in an unacceptable risk of handling the proceeds of crime,”Tracey McDermott, the FCA’s director of enforcement, said at the time.

The bank said then that it had complied with the fine and addressed the issues.

(Reuters)