Barclays Bank PLC has been slammed with a £42 million fine by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority for serious lapses in anti-money laundering controls related to their dealings with WealthTek and Stunt & Co.
The FCA said Barclays Bank failed to collect adequate information to assess money laundering risks before opening a client money account for WealthTek.
Negligently, the bank did not check the Financial Services Register, which would have revealed that WealthTek lacked authorisation to hold client funds.
This oversight led to £34 million being deposited into the account, heightening the risk of misappropriation.
WealthTek’s principal was charged by the FCA in December 2024 with offences including money laundering and fraud.
Barclays has committed to making a voluntary £6.3 million payment to affected WealthTek clients who have not recovered their money.
Similarly, Barclays Bank PLC was fined £39.3 million – the majority of the total penalty – for failing to adequately manage financial crime risks in its relationship with Stunt & Co.
The bank did not obtain sufficient information at onboarding or conduct effective monitoring, even after receiving warnings from law enforcement and learning of police raids on both Stunt & Co and Fowler Oldfield, a firm involved in large-scale money laundering.
Fowler Oldfield transferred £46.8 million to Stunt & Co over a one-year period.
Barclays only reassessed the risks after the FCA moved to prosecute NatWest in a related case.
“The consequences of poor financial crime controls are very real – they allow criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes, and they allow fraudsters to defraud consumers,” said Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority. “Banks need to take responsibility and act promptly, particularly when obvious risks are brought to their attention.
“In the first of these cases, Barclays secured a significant reduction in its fine through its extensive cooperation with our investigation and through making a voluntary payment to affected consumers at our request.”