The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Santander £107,793,300 after it found serious and persistent gaps in its anti-money laundering (AML) controls, affecting its Business Banking customers. However, the millions owed for the lapse come at a discounted rate. Had Santander not agreed to resolve the matter, it would not have qualified for the 30% discount rate and be on the hook for nearly £154 million. According to the FCA, a volume of more than £298 million of red-flag transactions has been processed.
Between 31 December 2012 and 18 October 2017, Santander failed to oversee and manage its AML systems properly, significantly impacting the account oversight of more than 560,000 business customers.
Santander’s poor management of their anti-money laundering systems and their inadequate attempts to address the problems created a prolonged and severe risk of money laundering and financial crime.
Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight
Santander had ineffective systems to adequately verify the information provided by customers about the business they would be doing. The firm also failed to properly monitor the money customers had told them would be going through their accounts compared with what actually was being deposited.
