Perhaps not the most exciting news for Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) and its customers recently but the UK branch of the bank has been fined £7,671,800 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom.
The authority says the fine is for failures in GTB UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) systems. The FCA said GTBank had made “repeated failures” in its AML systems and controls.
An investigation carried out by the FCA is said to have revealed “serious weaknesses” in the bank’s systems between October 2014 and July 2019. In this period, GTBank reportedly failed to conduct adequate customer risk assessments and allegedly often failed to assess or document the money laundering risks posed by its customers.
Responding to the FCA notice, GTB UK Managing Director, Gbenga Alade, said in a statement that the bank takes its anti-money laundering obligations very seriously and has taken steps to address and resolve the identified gaps, adding that no instance of suspected money laundering was found.
“We note with sincere regret the FCA’s findings regarding AML control gaps in our operations in the past and we are very sorry for this… We would like to assure all our stakeholders and the general public that necessary steps have been taken to address and resolve the identified gaps. We have since reinforced our AML control framework and implemented changes in our AML processes,” he added.
According to the FCA, the fine would have been £10,959,700 but because GTBank did not dispute the FCA’s findings and agreed to settle, it qualified for a 30% discount.
This is not the first time GTBank has been penalized for anti-money laundering failures. In August 2013, the same FCA fined the bank £525,000 for similar failings in its AML controls.
Meanwhile in Nigeria, the bank has been plagued with incessant complaints from customers on operational failures, quality control and allegations of unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts.
