Metro Bank fined £16m by City watchdog | News about money

Struggling Metro Bank has been fined £16m for lax money laundering controls.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the challenger bank failed to have adequate systems and controls in place to adequately monitor more than 60 million transactions, worth more than £51 billion, for money laundering risks of money.

The regulator identified failings between June 2016 and December 2020 and said they occurred despite concerns raised by junior staff as far back as 2017.

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Metro, which was rescued by a recapitalization deal just over a year ago, has put processes in place to meet its obligations, the FCA added.

Joint Chief Executive for Enforcement and Market Supervision, Therese Chambers, said: “Metro’s failures risked leaving a gap in our defenses against the criminal misuse of our financial system.

“Those failures took too long.”

Daniel Frumkin, chief executive of Metro, commented: “The conclusion of these inquiries draws a line under this legacy issue, allowing the bank to move forward and focus fully on the future, building on the strong foundations it has already laid.

“We continue apace with our move into higher yielding specialist mortgages and commercial, corporate and SME lending with a strong book of business.”

Metro Bank said separately in a third-quarter trading update that it still expects to meet its performance guidance for the year.

Shares were down 3% at the open.