The UK FCA has fined Ghana International Bank Plc (GHIB) £5,829,900 for poor anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls over its correspondent banking activities. GHIB provided correspondent banking services to overseas banks allowing them to provide products and services they would not otherwise be able to, including cross-border payments. The FCA requires banks to do extra checks on their correspondent banking customers to reduce the higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with the service.
According to the UK regulator FCA, between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2016, GHIB did not adequately perform the additional checks required when it established relationships with the overseas banks and failed to demonstrate it had assessed those banks’ anti-money laundering controls. GHIB also failed to undertake annual reviews of the information it held on the banks it had a relationship with, failed to give staff adequate training on how to scrutinize transactions properly, and did not establish appropriate policies and procedures for staff.
In December 2016, the FCA visited GHIB to review its financial crime controls. As a result of concerns identified during this visit, GHIB voluntarily agreed not to take on new customers. This restriction remains in place. GHIB continues to work with the FCA and an independent expert to improve its financial crime controls.
No evidence of actual money laundering was detected, though the risk of money laundering as a result of these deficient systems was significant. GIB did not dispute the FCA’s findings and agreed to settle at the earliest possible opportunity, which meant it qualified for a 30% discount. Otherwise, the FCA would have imposed a financial penalty of £8,328,500.
