UK regulator slaps Rs 80 mn fine on London branch of Canara Bank

The UK financial sector regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on Wednesday imposed a fine of £896,100 (Rs 80 million) on the London branch of Canara Bank and also stopped it from accepting deposits for nearly 5 months for not adhering to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Meanwhile, the bank in a BSE filing said FCA “acknowledges that senior management at Canara Bank have fully cooperated and engaged with FCA’s investigation and that the firm's substantive AML deficiencies now have been rectified”.

FCA in a notice said it had imposed a penalty of £896,100 on the bank and restricted it from accepting deposits from new customers for 147 days.

“The reason for this action is because Canara Bank breached Principle 3 (management and control — a firm must take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems) between November 26, 2012 and January 29, 2016,” FCA said.

The regulator further said it had reduced the penalty by 30 per cent as Canara Bank agreed to settle at an early stage of FCA's probe.