Gatehouse Bank has been fined £1.5m by the FCA for “significant weakness” in its financial crime systems and controls.
The regulator found that between 2014 and 2017, Gatehouse failed to conduct sufficient checks on its customers based in countries with a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Gatehouse also failed to undertake the correct checks when some of the customers were classed as politically exposed persons, the FCA added.
In one instance, Gatehouse set up an account for a company based in Kuwait to aggregate customer funds. The Bank did not require the company to collect information about customers’ source of funds or wealth, which was required under Gatehouse’s anti-money laundering policies.
As a result, over a two-year period, Gatehouse accepted US$62m into the account without properly vetting the funds for financial crime risks. The FCA said that this example illustrated the risks of failing to have proper systems and controls.
“Gatehouse’s failures exposed itself to the risk that it might be used as part of a laundering process for illegal funds,” commented FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight, Mark Steward.
“While not deliberate, there can be no excuse for failures as serious as this. The FCA will continue to hold firms to account for poor anti-money laundering systems and controls.”
Gatehouse has since taken significant steps to improve its financial crime systems and controls.
Latest News
NEW BUILD IN FOCUS - NEW EPISODE OF THE MORTGAGE INSIDER PODCAST, OUT NOW
Figures from the National House-Building Council saw Q1 2025 register a 36% increase in new homes built across the UK compared with the same period last year, representing a striking development for the first-time buyer market. But with the higher cost of building, ongoing planning challenges and new and changing regulations, how sustainable is this growth? And what does it mean for brokers?
The role of the bridging market and technology usage in the industry
Content editor, Dan McGrath, sat down with chief operating officer at Black & White Bridging, Damien Druce, and head of development finance at Empire Global Finance, Pete Williams, to explore the role of the bridging sector, the role of AI across the industry and how the property market has fared in the Labour Government’s first year in office.
Does the North-South divide still exist in the UK housing market?
What do the most expensive parts of the country reveal about shifting demand? And why is the Manchester housing market now outperforming many southern counterparts?
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
The new episode of The Mortgage Insider podcast, out now
Regional housing markets now matter more than ever. While London and the Southeast still tend to dominate the headlines from a house price and affordability perspective, much of the growth in rental yields and buyer demand is coming from other parts of the UK.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.
© 2019 Perspective Publishing Privacy & Cookies
Recent Stories