London, Jan. 10, 2023 – The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in The United Kingdom has fined the British subsidiary of Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank 7.6 million pounds ($9.3 million) over allegations of money laundering.
The FCA said in a statement on Tuesday that the fine was imposed due to the failures in GTBank’s anti-money laundering systems and controls.
Reuters reported that the failures were highlighted by the bank’s internal and external sources.
The FCA said that GTBank had failed to take appropriate measures to fix the system despite warnings.
“These weaknesses were repeatedly highlighted to GT Bank by internal and external sources, including the FCA, but despite this, GT Bank failed to take appropriate action to fix them,” the Financial Conduct Authority said.
According to the FCA, the Guaranty Trust Bank has not disputed the findings and agreed to settle.
But the bank said it “has cooperated fully with the FCA investigation and has agreed a penalty sum of GBP7,671,800, which has been calculated by reference to a proportion of the revenues of GTBank UK over the relevant period and includes a 30 per cent discount for early settlement.” (GBN)
