Corporate banking group fined £5.6 million

Corporate banking body the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBSG) was today (August 3rd) fined £5.6 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), for failing to put in place sufficient checks and barriers to prevent breaches of UK fiscal sanctions.

The levy was handed down as a result of poor examination of foreign trading partners on the part of the corporate banking company.

It was found in 2007, RBSG processed the largest volume of foreign payments of any UK financial institution.

However, between the end of that year and December 2008, group members RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank and Coutts and Co failed to comprehensively screen their customers - and the payments they made and received - against the sanctions list.

Margaret Cole, FSA director of enforcement and financial crime, stated: "The scale of the fine shows how seriously the FSA takes this issue and should act as a warning to other firms to ensure they have adequate screening procedures."

An FSA censure was recently given to the Garrison Finance Centre for failing to provide customers with enough information regarding the risks of complex investment products.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19917788-ADNFCR