Regulatory gap analysis: Monzo Bank Fined £21m for Financial Crime Failings

Monzo Bank has been fined £21m relating to financial crime failures dating back to 2018. Failures were identified across the entire financial crime control framework, including: customer risk assessment, PEP identification and treatment, transaction monitoring, and customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence.

A portion of the fine also relates to breaches of the banks VREQ as the inadequate control framework, coupled with poor oversight and governance, resulted in the bank onboarding thousands of high risk customers during the VREQ period - something they were not permitted to do.

The original penalty of just over £30m was reduced to £21m following the application of a 30% discount.

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