The FCA is hitting Al Rayan Bank PLC (Al Rayan) with a £4,023,600 ($4,9m) fine for failing to demonstrate adequate anti-money-laundering (AML) controls within their services.  

Between April 1, 2015 and November 30, 2017, Al Rayan failed to make appropriate checks on the money that was passing through the bank. It also failed to check its customers’ source of wealth and source of funds in order to see that the money was not connected to financial crime.   

Furthermore, the staff lacked proper training on how to handle large deposits, which made the risks of money laundering and financial crimes even higher. 

The bank was aware of these weaknesses, and even though the FCA raised concerns about its systems, Al Rayan still failed to implement adequate changes to fix the issues.

Issued restrictions

In 2017, the regulator visited Al Rayan and it was agreed that the bank would not take on any more high-risk customers. That restriction has now been lifted thanks to improvements to the bank’s systems and controls.

However, Al Rayan is still subject to some limited restrictions while other improvements are made.  

“While the risk was caught in time, the failings here were egregious.”  

Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, FCA

“Al Rayan failed to manage the risk that it might be used to facilitate money-laundering,” said Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA. “These failings create the conditions in which financial crime is facilitated and can take root within a firm. While the risk was caught in time, the failings here were egregious.”  

Al Rayan has agreed to settle with the FCA’s findings, which gives the bank a 30% discount on the fine. Without the discount, the imposed penalty would have been £5,748,000 ($7m).

Al Rayan is the second bank that has been fined by the FCA over AML failures this week. Earlier, Guaranty Trust Bank was fined £7.6m for serious weaknesses in its systems.