UK fines Santander over ‘gaps’ in anti-money laundering controls

‘Critical and chronic gaps’ are uncovered within the anti-money laundering controls of the UK arm of the Spanish financial institution.

Clients use ATM machines on the Surrey Quays department of Santander financial institution in south London [File: Toby Melville/Reuters]

Britain has hit the UK arm of Spanish banking big Santander with a effective of almost 108 million kilos ($132m) after uncovering “critical and chronic gaps” in anti-money laundering controls.

The Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA) mentioned in a press release on Friday that it had concluded that Santander UK PLC “didn't correctly oversee and handle its anti-money laundering (AML) methods” between December 2012 and October 2017.

The failures affected greater than 560,000 enterprise prospects.

Santander didn't dispute the findings and subsequently certified for a 30-percent low cost, in any other case the effective would have totalled almost 154 million kilos ($188m).

“Santander’s poor administration of their AML methods and their insufficient makes an attempt to handle the issues created a protracted and extreme danger of cash laundering and monetary crime,” added Mark Steward, FCA govt director of enforcement and market oversight.

“As a part of our dedication to stop and cut back monetary crime, we proceed to take motion towards corporations which fail to function correct anti-money laundering controls.”

Full cooperation

In response, Santander UK accepted the conclusions and apologised, including it had cooperated totally.

“Santander takes its duties relating to monetary crime extraordinarily significantly,” mentioned CEO Mike Regnier in a separate assertion.

“We're very sorry for the historic AML associated controls points in our enterprise banking division.”

He careworn that Santander UK had taken motion to handle the problems as soon as they had been recognized, however added that its methods ought to have been stronger.

“We have now since made vital modifications to handle this by overhauling our monetary crime expertise, methods and processes.”

The division now has greater than 4,400 workers who deal with monetary crime prevention, which is a key focus for Spanish guardian Santander.