FCA fines Santander £107.7 million
In December 2022 the FCA issued £107.7 million to retail bank, Santander for failure to properly oversee and manage its AML systems, which significantly impacted the account oversight of more than 560,000 business customers.
As set out in their Final Notice, the FCA concluded that Santander suffered from operational weaknesses in its AML framework, in respect of its Business Banking customers, from the point of onboarding through to ongoing monitoring.
The bank also failed to effectively identify, assess, monitor and manage the large AML risks associated with such customers.
One example mentioned by the FCA, where a particular Business Banking customer, that was anticipated at onboarding to be a small translations business, with expected monthly deposits of £5,000, was able to transfer approximately £269m through its Santander account over a number of years.
This is an extreme example which highlights the fact that AML systems and controls continue to be an area of focus for FCA enforcement action.
Santander has not disputed the FCA’s findings and has agreed to settle, which means it has qualified for a 30% discount.
Without the discount, the financial penalty would have been £153,990,400.