Standard Bank fined £7.6m for anti-money laundering failures
STANDARD Bank failed to properly and consistently apply anti-money laundering procedures to corporate customers related to politically exposed persons, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said yesterday.
The City watchdog fined the Africa-focused lender for the lapses which occurred between December 2007 and July 2011.
The fine of £7.6m was reduced by 30 per cent because the bank settled the claims early.
“Banks are in the front line in the fight against money laundering,” said FCA enforcement head Tracey McDermott.
“If they accept business from high risk customers they must have effective systems, controls and practices in place to manage that risk. Standard Bank clearly failed in this respect.”