The UK Financial Services Authority has fined Coutts £8.75 million for failing to take reasonable care to establish and maintain effective anti-money laundering systems and controls.

Date: Mar 30, 2012

Tags: Coutts, UK, Enforcement, AML

The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Coutts £8.75 million (US$13.8 million) for failing to take reasonable care to establish and maintain effective anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls relating to high risk customers, including Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).

An FSA investigation has identified that Coutts did not apply robust controls when starting relationships with high-risk customers and did not consistently apply appropriate monitoring of those high-risk relationships.

In addition, the FSA determined that the AML team at Coutts failed to provide an appropriate level of scrutiny and challenge.

According to a statement, the failings at Coutts were serious, systemic and were allowed to persist for almost three years, resulting in an unacceptable risk of Coutts handling the proceeds of crime.

More details: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/communication/pr/2012/032.shtml