One of the UK’s most successful challenger banks is in receipt of the FCA’s biggest financial penalty of the year to date.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined London-headquartered Starling Bank, one of the new wave of so-called challenger banks, almost GBP 29 million for a range of financial misdeeds, representing the biggest penalty levied so far this year by the regulator and knocking Citigroup Global Markets’ GBP 27.8 million penalty, issued in May, into the runner-up spot.
According to an FCA news release, between September 2021 and November 2023 Starling opened 54,000 accounts for high-risk customers, despite vowing to tighten up its procedures following a 2021 FCA review which revealed grievous shortcomings in the bank’s anti-money laundering and sanctions framework.
John Binns, a partner with BCL Solicitors succinctly summed up in an email, commenting: “[An] obvious, message from this case is that if you agree with your regulator to take steps to steady your own ship, and then don’t follow through, you can expect some pretty harsh treatment."
This comment was first written for and published by ICLG on 02 October 2024, to read the full article click here.
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