The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority disclosed £42 million in penalties Wednesday against Barclays for failing to properly vet two corporate customers, including a firm tied to a £200 million money laundering scheme.
The FCA said it fined the London-headquartered lender £39 million for due-diligence failures linked to its relationship with Stunt & Co, a gold bullion firm that received almost £47 million from Fowler Oldfield, a Bradford-based precious metals dealer at the center of a high-profile case that saw four men jailed in March.
Regulators found that Barclays only conducted a review of its exposure to Fowler Oldfield after the FCA disclosed its decision to prosecute rival NatWest over its relationship with the company. NatWest’s involvement in the scheme saw the bank pay a then-record £265 million penalty in December 2021.
The FCA fined Barclays a further £3 million for failing to conduct adequate due diligence on WealthTek, a now-defunct Newcastle-based wealth management firm whose principal partner, John Dance, was charged in December with stealing more than £64 million from clients and laundering the proceeds. All told, WealthTek clients deposited £34 million into the firm’s Barclays account.
“One simple check it could have done was to look at the Financial Services Register before opening the account,” the regulator noted. “Had it done so, it would have seen that WealthTek was not permitted by the FCA to hold client money.”
Barclays also agreed to make a voluntary payment of £6.3 million to WealthTek clients who fell victim to Dance’s alleged scheme.
Topics : | Anti-money laundering |
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Source: | United Kingdom: Financial Conduct Authority |
Document Date: | July 16, 2025 |