FCA slaps Metro Bank with $21M fine for inadequate AML monitoring

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The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Metro Bank 16.6 million pounds (U.S. $21 million) for an alleged failure by its automated system to adequately monitor money laundering risks.

Financial institutions are required by the FCA to conduct anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring as a way to counter criminal activity. Individuals and organizations that make money through crime often try to engage in bank transactions or to open legitimate bank accounts in an effort to “wash” and hide the dirty money.

Metro, which was founded in 2010, installed an automated financial crime monitoring system in June 2016 that “did not work as intended,” the FCA alleged.

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