In U.K., regulators handing out fewer AML fines as banks bolster compliance practices

Fewer fines are the silver lining of banks’ dogged compliance drive. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority collected 230 million pounds in penalties in 2017. Though that’s a big increase on 2016, the haul was skewed by a record fine for Deutsche Bank. It suggests heavy spending on tightening up controls is finally delivering some benefits.
 
Financial firms paid out 10 times as much to the FCA in 2017 as in the previous year. Strip out the 163 million pound punishment for Deutsche Bank, however, and the haul was just 5 percent of the 1.5 billion that the regulator collected in 2014 – the peak year for UK fines. Moreover, penalties imposed on companies regulated by the FCA in Britain are getting smaller: excluding Deutsche, the average fine was 17 million pounds last year, down from 37 million pounds in 2014. Banks are also making fewer transgressions. Only two regulated lenders were fined in 2017, compared with 16 in 2014, (via Breaking Views).