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Metro Bank has been fined almost £17mn by the UK financial watchdog for failing to ensure an automated system was correctly checking customer transactions for potential money laundering until four years after it was installed.
The Financial Conduct Authority said junior staff raised concerns in the two years after the new financial crime system was launched by Metro Bank in 2016. But even after a fix was put in place in 2019, vulnerabilities remained until a year later.
“Metro’s failings risked a gap being left in our defence against the criminal misuse of our financial system,” said Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA. “Those failings went on for too long.”
Metro Bank’s £16.7mn fine was reduced by 30 per cent because it agreed to the enforcement action early.
Metro Bank chief executive Daniel Frumkin said: “The conclusion of these enquiries draws a line under this legacy issue, allowing the bank to move forward and fully focus on the future.”
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