UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed a fine of £63.9m ($85.16m) on banking giant HSBC for shortcomings in its anti-money laundering processes.
The FCA has stated that three key parts of the bank’s automated transaction monitoring systems had “serious weaknesses” between 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2018.
HSBC failed to adequately monitor the ‘scenarios used to identify indicators of money laundering or terrorist financing covered relevant risks until 2014’, and carry out ‘risk assessments for new scenarios after 2016.’
The lender failed to test and update the system’s parameters used to identify suspicious transactions, the FCA said.
HSBC has also been fined for not checking the accuracy and completeness of the data being fed into the system.
Notably, the lender did not dispute FCA’s findings and qualified for a 30% discount on a £91.35m fine.
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By GlobalDataFCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward said: “HSBC’s transaction monitoring systems were not effective for a prolonged period despite the issue being highlighted on numerous occasions.
“These failings are unacceptable and exposed the bank and community to avoidable risks, especially as the remediation took such a long time.”
HSBC spokesperson said: “We are pleased to resolve this matter, which relates to HSBC’s legacy anti-money laundering systems and controls in the UK.
“HSBC is deeply committed to combating financial crime and protecting the integrity of the global financial system.”
Earlier this week, NatWest was fined £264.7m for failing to prevent money laundering by its UK incorporated customer Fowler Oldfield.