In 2022, the enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) rules slightly decreased in Europe, but the UK and France recorded financial crime-related criminal penalties and settlements, leading to the overall drop in AML regulatory actions. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) logged a relatively quiet year after assessing a record £480 million in penalties in 2021, resulting in a year-on-year decrease in the total value of regulatory fines for compliance-related violations in Europe. However, the FCA still led the pack in terms of enforcement, imposing four fines against banks and three against brokerages that paid a combined £144 million for AML violations, business integrity breaches, and other infractions.
The FCA’s most significant action was against Banco Santander, which drew a £108 million penalty for systemic AML failures that allowed several money services businesses and other high-risk companies to move hundreds of millions of pounds through corporate accounts in a manner that should have immediately raised suspicion.
Last year, Gidiplus Limited became the first UK cryptocurrency platform to lose a legal challenge against the FCA’s decision not to provide the company with an operating license. The regulator had concluded that the firm’s AML systems and controls fell short of standards. In March 2022, the FCA’s first successful use of an account forfeiture order came when a court in London approved the seizure of £2 million from seven bank accounts controlled by QPay Europe Limited, a London-based fintech platform that handled funds tied to a US wire-fraud scheme.
The regulator then warned online lenders and other “challenger banks” to address gaps in their assessments of financial crime-related risks, suspicious-transaction-reporting procedures, and other aspects of their AML programs amid concerns that fast-onboarding processes had exposed them and other fintechs to illicit funds.
The Gambling Commission became Britain’s most active enforcer of AML rules after issuing 13 penalties for a combined £41 million last year, led by a then-record £17 million assessment against Entain Group in August. The regulator also penalized several gaming platforms last year for failing to vet third-party vendors.
In France, the Agence française anticorruption (AFA) handed out record fines totaling €26 million last year, more than triple the amount imposed the previous year. Among the firms fined were BNP Paribas Securities Services, Airbus, and Sanofi, which paid €10 million, €8 million, and €3.6 million, respectively.
The AFA also imposed a €10 million fine against Barclays Bank, the largest penalty ever issued by the regulator, for failing to prevent the bank’s involvement in a money-laundering scheme that operated between 2005 and 2009. In addition, the AFA imposed a €3 million fine on Societe Generale for violating anti-bribery laws.
The French government’s decision to increase the maximum penalty for money laundering from five to ten years’ imprisonment may lead to more significant fines in the future.
Overall, while the enforcement of AML rules in Europe decreased slightly, the UK and France recorded record-breaking penalties for AML violations, signaling a stronger push to crack down on financial crime and enforce AML regulations.
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