(Reuters) – The British financial regulator (FCA) inflicted a fine of 42 million pounds in Barclays (48.44 million euros) for breaches in its obligations to combat money laundering during the provision of services to two customers, according to a statement published on Wednesday.
Most of the fine, or 39.3 million pounds, was imposed by the FCA on the British bank “for not having adequately managed the risks of money laundering linked to the supply of banking services to a company specializing in gold currently in liquidation, Stunt & Co”, specifies the press release.
“Barclays did not collect enough information at the start of the relationship or did not carry out adequate continuous control,” adds the FCA, while Stunt & Co received 46.8 million pounds from Fowler Oldfield, a jewelry that blew money.
The FCA specifies that Barclays had only re -examined its exhibition at Fowler Oldfield after learning that Natwest was prosecuted for its links with the same company.
A spokesperson for Barclays said that the bank had carried out an in-depth examination, that it had expressed its conclusions to the FCA and that it had fully cooperated with its investigations, adding that the survey “did not allow us to conclude that the bank had violated the money laundering regulations”.
The FCA has also noted breaches in the policy of fighting money laundering in the context of the banking relationship of Barclays with Wealhtek, a wealth management company whose former main partner John Dance is accused of fraud and money laundering.
“Barclays Bank UK PLC did not verify that it had collected enough information to understand the risk of money laundering before opening a customer account for Wealthtek”, detailed the FCA, adding that “simple verification she could have made would have been to consult the register of financial services before opening the account. If she had done, she would have seen that Wealthtek was not authorized by the FCA customers. “
Barclays agreed to voluntarily pay 6.3 million pounds to Wealthtek customers who could not recover the money they had deposited.
(Written by Raechel Thankam Job and Yadarisa Shabong in Bangalore; Bertrand de Meyer, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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