The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed a £1,584,100 fine on London-headquartered Gatehouse Bank Plc for omissions in its financial crime systems and controls.
The fine was announced on Friday, revealing that the challenger bank has taken significant steps to improve its anti-money laundering (AML) checks.
According to the UK watchdog, Gatehouse Bank failed to conduct sufficient checks for money laundering and terror financing on customers with higher risk during period between June 2014 and July 2017. Furthermore, the bank failed to properly undertake checks for some of its politically-exposed customers.
The regulator detailed that in one case, Gatehouse Bank once opened an account fora Kuwait-based company for aggregating customer funds. The bank did not require the collection of crucial information including customers’ source of funds or wealth. During a two year period, the bank ended up receiving $62 million in deposits from customers without performing the necessary checks.
Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, commented:
Gatehouse Bank’s failures exposed itself to the risk that it might be used as part of a laundering process for illegal funds. While not deliberate, there can be no excuse for failures as serious as this. The FCA will continue to hold firms to account for poor anti-money laundering systems and controls.
Earlier this year, the FCA imposed a £2 million fine on TJM Partnership for financial crime control failings.
