Latest news with #ThereseChambers
NDTV
16-07-2025
- Business
- NDTV
Barclays Fined $56 Million Over Poor Handling Of Crime Risks
Britain's financial watchdog on Wednesday said it had fined Barclays bank $56 million for "poor handling of financial crime risks". The Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement that the fine was "for separate instances of failings in its financial crime risk management" between 2015 and 2023. A Barclays spokesperson said the British bank is "deeply committed to the fight against financial crime and fraud", after its third FCA fine for failings in financial crime controls since 2015. They added in a statement that "Barclays fully cooperated with both investigations and has further strengthened its financial crime and other control capabilities". In the first case, Barclays "failed to check it had gathered sufficient information to understand the money laundering risk, before opening a client money account for WealthTek", a wealth manager which the regulator had shut down. The FCA said Barclays needed to carry out only "one simple check" to see that "WealthTek was not permitted by" the regulator to hold client money. The bulk of the fine $5.25 million -- was for Barclays "failing to adequately manage money laundering risks associated with providing banking services to Stunt & Co", a trader of gold. FCA enforcement director Therese Chambers said "the consequences of poor financial crime controls... allow criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes, and they allow fraudsters to defraud consumers". "Banks need to take responsibility and act promptly, particularly when obvious risks are brought to their attention," she added in a statement.
Eyewitness News
16-07-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
UK fines Barclays bank £42 mn for crime risk failings
LONDON - Britain's financial watchdog on Wednesday said it had fined Barclays Bank £42 million ($56 million) for "poor handling of financial crime risks". The Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement that the fine was "for separate instances of failings in its financial crime risk management" between 2015 and 2023. A Barclays spokesperson said the British bank is "deeply committed to the fight against financial crime and fraud", after its third FCA fine for failings in financial crime controls since 2015. They added in a statement that "Barclays fully cooperated with both investigations and has further strengthened its financial crime and other control capabilities". In the first case, Barclays "failed to check it had gathered sufficient information to understand the money laundering risk, before opening a client money account for WealthTek", a wealth manager which the regulator had shut down. The FCA said Barclays needed to carry out only "one simple check" to see that "WealthTek was not permitted by" the regulator to hold client money. The bulk of the fine, £39.3 million, was for Barclays "failing to adequately manage money laundering risks associated with providing banking services to Stunt & Co", a trader of gold. FCA enforcement director Therese Chambers said "the consequences of poor financial crime controls... allow criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes, and they allow fraudsters to defraud consumers". "Banks need to take responsibility and act promptly, particularly when obvious risks are brought to their attention," she added in a statement.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Major bank fined £21m after allowing customers to register from Buckingham Palace and Downing Street
Monzo has been hit with a fine exceeding £21 million by the UK's financial watchdog for anti-fraud failures, including allowing customers with "implausible" information to open bank accounts. The digital bank was found to have taken on customers using 'obviously implausible UK addresses' such as Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and Monzo's own headquarters, according to the regulator. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed the penalty was imposed for shortcomings in Monzo's anti-financial crime measures, with the failures dating back to between October 2018 and August 2020. The digital challenger bank also repeatedly breached a regulatory requirement, preventing it from opening accounts for over 34,000 high-risk customers between August 2020 and June 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) stated. The FCA said Monzo's financial fraud systems and controls ultimately "failed to keep pace" with its rapid growth in customer numbers in recent years. Its customer base ballooned from 600,000 in 2018 to over 5.8 million in 2022. Therese Chambers, FCA joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said Monzo's actions 'fell far short of what we and society expect'. She said: ' Banks are a vital line of defence in the collective fight against financial crime. 'They must have the systems in place to prevent the flow of ill-gotten gains into the financial system. 'Monzo fell far short of what we and society expect. 'Monzo onboarded customers on the basis of limited, and in some cases, obviously implausible information, such as customers using well-known London landmarks as an address. 'This illustrates how lacking Monzo's financial crime controls were. 'This was compounded by its inability to properly comply with the requirement not to onboard high-risk customers.' The FCA said the fine of £21.1 million had been discounted from £30.1 million after Monzo agreed to resolve the issues. Monzo said the group has since made 'substantial improvements' in its systems and controls. TS Anil, the bank's group chief executive, said: 'The FCA's findings relate to a historical period that ended three years ago and draw a line under issues that have been resolved and are firmly in the past with our learnings at the time leading to substantial improvements in our controls. 'I'm pleased the FCA recognises the significant investments we have made, as well as our ongoing commitment to managing these risks today, as we go from strength to strength as a business approaching 13 million customers.'
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fraudsters open bank account registered to Buckingham Palace
Monzo has been fined £21m after allowing fraudsters to sign up for bank accounts using 'implausible' UK addresses, including Buckingham Palace. The online-only bank, best known for its vivid orange debit cards, was hit with the penalty by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after an investigation found it had failed to verify customers' addresses between October 2018 and August 2020. According to the FCA, some customers were even able to open accounts using fake details – including addresses such as 10 Downing Street as well as Monzo's own business address. The lender also broke anti-money laundering rules by letting high-risk customers open accounts using foreign addresses and Post Office boxes – despite Monzo only being able to serve UK customers under the terms of its banking licence. After the FCA raised concerns about its processes and told it to stop opening accounts for high-risk customers in 2020, the regulator said Monzo flouted the demand for another two years and signed up another 34,000 high-risk customers. Therese Chambers, from the FCA, said: 'Monzo onboarded customers on the basis of limited, and in some cases, obviously implausible information – such as customers using well-known London landmarks as an address. This illustrates how lacking Monzo's financial crime controls were. 'Banks are a vital line of defence in the collective fight against financial crime. They must have the systems in place to prevent the flow of ill-gotten gains into the financial system. Monzo fell far short of what we, and society, expect.' Monzo's failures coincided with a surge in customers as it sought to boost account opening. Between early 2018 and 2023, customer numbers surged from 590,000 to 7.4m. During this period, Monzo failed to collect key information from customers, including their jobs and occupations, the FCA said. The regulator said the failings came after an employee responsible for Monzo's money-laundering controls left the challenger bank in October 2018. Monzo then shared this staff member's duties between other senior employees. TS Anil, Monzo's chief executive, said: 'The FCA's findings relate to a historical period that ended three years ago and draw a line under issues that have been resolved and are firmly in the past – with our learnings at the time leading to substantial improvements in our controls.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Metro
08-07-2025
- Business
- Metro
Monzo created bank accounts for people claiming to live in 10 Downing Street
Monzo handed out bank accounts to new customers claiming to live in 10 Downing Street and even Buckingham Palace. The digital bank has been fined £21million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)for failing to enforce strict anti-financial crime measures. The FCA investigation found that Monzo had no means to verifycustomer's addresses no matter how 'implausable' they were. One customer even gave their address as Monzo's own headquarters. The financial watchdog had imposed a requirement preventing Monzo from opening new accounts for high-risk customers. But between August 2020 and June 2022, they said the digital bank, which has no physical branches, repeatedly failed to comply with their terms and signed up over 34,000 high-risk customers. Monzo claims that the hefty fine draws a line under issues resolved three years ago and 'substantial improvements' have now been made. In their ruling, the FCA said: '[Monzo] allowed customers to provide obviously implausible UK addresses when applying for an account, such as well-known London landmarks including 'Buckingham Palace' and '10 Downing Street', and even Monzo's [own] business address. 'Monzo's decision not to verify, or otherwise monitor, customer addresses also gave rise to other issues.' Therese Chambers, FCA joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said that banks were a vital line of defence in the fight against financial crime. '[Landmark addresses] illustrates how lacking Monzo's financial crime controls were. This was compounded by its inability to properly comply with the requirement not to onboard high-risk customers.' 'They must have the systems in place to prevent the flow of ill-gotten gains into the financial system,' she said. 'Monzo fell far short of what we, and society, expect.' Monzo's customer base has substantially increased, growing from approximately 250,000 customers in early 2017 to over 12 million by April 2025. Group CEO of Monzo, TS Anil told Metro: 'The FCA's findings relate to a historical period that ended three years ago and draw a line under issues that have been resolved and are firmly in the past – with our learnings at the time leading to substantial improvements in our controls. 'I'm pleased the FCA recognises the significant investments we have made, as well as our ongoing commitment to managing these risks today, as we go from strength to strength as a business approaching 13 million customers. 'Financial crime is an issue that affects the entire industry – and at Monzo, we have the right team, best-in-class technology and an unwavering commitment to doing all we can to stop it in its tracks.' MORE: I discovered £5,000 in my wife's secret savings account — do I have a right to be angry? MORE: Avoid making this 'costly mistake' while on holiday abroad this summer MORE: Using AI to help plan your finances? Here's what ChatGPT gets wrong
