The FCA has fined Metro Bank PLC £16,675,200 for failures in its money laundering controls.

Between June 2016 and December 2020, Metro Bank failed to implement effective systems and controls to monitor over 60 million transactions, valued at more than £51 billion, for potential money laundering risks.

Metro introduced an automated system in June 2016 to monitor customer transactions for signs of financial crime. However, due to a flaw in how data was processed, transactions occurring on the same day an account was opened—and subsequent transactions until the account record was updated—were not monitored.

Concerns about missing transaction data were raised by junior staff in 2017 and 2018, but the underlying issue was neither identified nor resolved. Even after a fix was implemented in July 2019, Metro lacked a consistent mechanism to verify that all relevant transactions were being monitored. This oversight persisted until December 2020, more than four and a half years after the system was introduced.

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, stated:
“Metro’s failings risked creating gaps in the defence against the criminal misuse of our financial system. These issues persisted for far too long.”

Since identifying the problem in April 2019, Metro Bank has taken steps to address and remediate the deficiencies in its transaction monitoring system. The FCA continues to oversee firms to ensure they maintain robust systems and controls to manage financial crime risks.