Welcome back to the Banking Risk & Regulation newsletter.
In today’s news:
⛔ Santander battles fresh FCA probe over AML failings
🎥 How does Labour propose to shake up the FCA?
🦥 Fear of change and legacy tech stalling UK bank innovation
Santander UK has been investigated once again for financial crime failures, after years of being “peppered” with similar probes by the financial supervisor, reports Ellesheva Kissin in a Banking Risk & Regulation exclusive.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority recently wound up a section 166 probe earlier this quarter, after placing an external skilled person inside Santander to review the bank’s anti-money laundering systems.
This isn’t the first time it’s happened. One person that worked on previous probes into the bank’s systems said they were aware of “at least three” such probes since 2015.
The FCA even fined Santander almost £108mn in 2022 for repeated AML failings between 2012 and 2017. A spokesperson for the bank said it is committed to strengthening its “control environment” and aligning with “best practice”.
Santander is now working its way through a list of corrective actions prescribed by the FCA, but the ongoing investigations have created something of a problem: a “revolving door of senior compliance staff” at the bank, sources claim.