Santander Fined for "Serious and Persistent Gaps" in Anti-Money Laundering Controls

This press release was orginally distributed by SBWire

Reykjavik, Iceland -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2023 -- Santander is the latest big name in finance to fall foul of anti-money laundering requirements with a significant fine of more than £107 million. The bank's response was that it was "very sorry" for the problems that led to the fine from the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). According to the FCA, Santander failed to properly oversee and manage the systems that had been set up to prevent money laundering. Attempts that had been made to later try and address the problem were labelled by the regulator as "inadequate" and the FCA said that the situation created a prolonged and severe risk of money laundering and financial crime. The total amount of the fine - £107.7 million - is designed to reflect the severity of the situation at such a prominent financial institution.

The details of what led to Santander being hit with such a sizeable fine relate to failings at the bank in terms of properly monitoring the money going through customer accounts. The FCA said that this related to accounts held by more than 560,000 business customers over a five-year period. The Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring failings meant that £298 million was able to pass through the bank before accounts were closed. One prime example was an account opened with the bank as a small transactions business with expected monthly deposits of £5,000. But it was soon receiving millions of pounds and quickly transferring this money out to other accounts, apparently unnoticed by anyone at Santander.

A lack of Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring is not uncommon and the fact that many of the biggest banks are receiving fines shows that no institution is immune. This is one the reasons that Lucinity exists - to provide a genuinely simple to use option for Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring that is available to businesses of all sizes. Given the vulnerability that exposure to financial crime creates, and the broader societal impact of money laundering, it's vital for every enterprise to put steps in place to try and curtail this. Lucinity works on the basis of a combination of both human and artificial intelligence. Alongside extensive Anti Money Laundering Monitoring capability the software also has extensive actor intelligence that allows any organisation to gain a more holistic view of customers, as well as a comprehensive SAR manager. The Lucinity platform is part of the commitment the business has made to Make Money Good and to help ensure that money laundering on a global scale is slowed.

As the situation for Santander shows, there is a critical need for solutions like Lucinity when it comes to Anti Money Laundering Monitoring and shielding institutions from vulnerability to financial crime. The business, which was established in 2018, has now grown into a global network supporting many different types of businesses worldwide. Today, Lucinity has offices in many locations including London, New York, Reykjavik and Brussels and demand for this simple but effective system continues to rise.

About Lucinity
Lucinity is an anti-money laundering (AML) software developer on a mission to turn legacy AML compliance into faster, smarter augmented intelligence tool. Lucinity aims to solve productivity and efficiency issues for financial institutions through the company's 'Human AI' approach, a toolset that combines next-generation AI with human insights and expertise.

By leveraging AI, the AML software learns from every interaction and continues to improve indefinitely, providing fewer false positives and saving time. This is on top of its best-in-class interface and visualizations that put users first. Professionals can experience Lucinity's AML compliance solution, including transaction monitoring, through a free demo environment available on https://www.lucinity.com/signup.
Lucinity operates globally, with headquarters in Reykjavik, and serves customers including Tier-1 banks, FinTechs, startups, scaleups and Enterprise businesses.

Company Quote

Founder and CEO, Gudjmundur Kristjansson, comments, "Lucinity means "shine a light," because we illuminate dark finance and shed light on compliance. Our intuitive systems are simple to use, complementing the skills and ingenuity of compliance professionals.

Lucinity makes them superheroes to take on financial crime, saving institutions time and money. By transforming AML compliance, we can have a tremendous positive impact on society. That is why we set out to Make Money Good and create faster, smarter AML."

Start to Make Money Good

To book a Demo of the Lucinity AML Compliance Software visit https://www.lucinity.com/book-a-demo

To find out more information Anti money laundering monitoring visit https://www.lucinity.com

Lucinity are regular attendees at Anti-Money Laundering and Fin Tech Conventions around the world. To find out about upcoming Lucinity events visit https://www.lucinity.com/events

For any media enquiries please contact Gary Elliott at Iconic Digital – 020 7100 0726.

For all other enquiries please contact Lucinity at https://www.lucinity.com/contact
For more information about Lucinity services, please go to https://www.lucinity.com.

Lucinity is an AML software company, founded in 2018, with offices in Reykjavik, New York, London and Brussels. Using advanced AI systems, we help banks discover money laundering and really know their customers, more efficiently – to stop the funding of serious crime across the world.

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