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Barclays Pays Out Millions for Failing to Vet Collapsed FX Firm - BLOOMBERG
(Bloomberg) --
Barclays Plc was fined 780,000 pounds ($1.04 million) and agreed to make payments of more than 10 million pounds to customers of a collapsed foreign-exchange business client.
Barclays failed to properly vet Premier FX, a firm that provided currency services to British citizens living in Spain and Portugal, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement Monday.
This included accepting cut-and-paste reports from Premier FX for its anti-money laundering reviews, which had errors, according to the regulator. The company went into insolvency in 2018 following the death of its founder, leaving customers out of pocket.
Barclays agreed to cooperate and settle customer claims, the FCA said, noting the penalty would otherwise have been higher.
“Premier FX, which handled money on behalf of other people, presented particularly high risks of financial crime and fraud,” Mark Steward, the FCA’s Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight said. “Barclays was aware of these high risks in providing banking services to Premier FX but failed to take reasonably appropriate steps to mitigate those risks.”
Barclays said it “reached a resolution with the FCA following an investigation into its oversight and monitoring of a former customer.”
