[ad_1]
Nationwide has been fined £44m for failing to do enough to combat financial crime.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued the penalty after criticising the building society’s “inadequate” efforts at tackling offences such as money laundering.
The regulator said this included Nationwide having ineffective policies and procedures for monitoring personal current accounts.
The fine relates to failures during the period between October 2016 and July 2021.
The FCA said that in one “serious” case, the building society missed opportunities to spot how a customer was using current accounts to receive millions of pounds in fraudulent COVID furlough payments during the pandemic.
They were sent 24 payments totalling £27.3m over 13 months, including £26m deposited over eight days.
HMRC managed to claw back most of the cash, but approximately £800,000 remains unrecovered.
Money latest: Value of pound hit by surprise GDP figure
The FAC said Nationwide had been aware that some customers had been “using their personal accounts for business activity, in breach of its terms”.
It added: “Nationwide did not offer business current accounts at this point, so did not have the right processes in place to manage the financial crime risks from business activity.”
Read more from Sky News:
Economy shrank by 0.1% in October
Mail owner lines up bank to fund Telegraph bid
Burger King UK lands new backing
Therese Chambers, an FCA director, said: “Nationwide failed to get a proper grip of the financial crime risks lurking within its customer base. It took too long to address its flawed systems and weak controls, meaning red flags were missed with serious consequences.
“Building societies and banks have a key role in the fight against financial crime. Firms must remain vigilant in this fight.”
A Nationwide spokesperson told Sky News: “Nationwide identified these issues, which relate to controls in place before July 2021, through its own reviews, and…
[ad_2]
