Al Rayan Bank Fined £4M For Money Laundering Control Failure By FCA

WikiFX has learned that Al Rayan Bank PLC (Al Rayan) was fined £4,023,600 by the UK authorities for failing to implement effective anti-money laundering (AML) measures.

The shortcomings were exacerbated by a lack of sufficient training for workers on how to manage significant deposits, which increased the potential for money laundering and financial criminality.

Despite the FCA's worries about the shortcomings of Al Rayan's systems, the company failed to adopt significant modifications to address them.

Following the FCA's inspection of Al Rayan in 2017, the bank voluntarily decided not to accept any further high-risk clients. This limitation has since been withdrawn as a result of changes to the bank's systems and controls, however, the bank is still subject to certain restricted restrictions until further improvements are made.

The FCA's Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, Mark Steward, stated:

“Al Rayan failed to control the danger of being utilized to support money laundering.”

“These flaws provide the circumstances for financial criminality to flourish and take root inside a company. While the danger was identified in time, the flaws, in this case, were serious.”

“The FCA will continue to raise the stakes for firms that fail to take their financial crime responsibilities seriously, particularly in preventing money laundering risks that undermine market confidence and integrity, and in preventing financial crime, which is a key component of the FCA's three-year strategy.”

Al Rayan did not contest the FCA's findings and decided to settle, therefore it was eligible for a 30% reduction. If no resolution was achieved, the FCA would have levied a pecuniary penalty of £5,748,000.

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