The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Starling Bank £29 million for financial crime failings related to its financial sanctions screening.
The FCA said it also repeatedly breached a requirement not to open accounts for high-risk customers.
Starling, backed by Goldman Sachs, was founded in 2014 by Anne Boden. It grew quickly, from approximately 43,000 customers in 2017 to 3.6 million in 2023. However, measures to tackle financial crime did not keep pace with its growth, according to the regulator.
When the FCA reviewed financial crime controls at challenger banks in 2021, it identified serious concerns with the anti-money laundering and sanctions framework in place at Starling. The bank agreed to a requirement restricting it from opening new accounts for high-risk customers until this improved.
Starling failed to comply and opened over 54,000 accounts for 49,000 high-risk customers between September 2021 and November 2023.
£16m strategic injection for financial markets data firm BMLL
In January 2023, Starling became aware that its automated screening system had, since 2017, only been screening customers against a fraction of the full list of those subject to financial sanctions. A subsequent internal review identified systemic issues in its financial sanctions framework.
Starling has since reported multiple potential breaches of financial sanctions to the relevant authorities.
“Starling’s financial sanction screening controls were shockingly lax,” said Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight.
“It left the financial system wide open to criminals and those subject to sanctions. It compounded this by failing to properly comply with FCA requirements it had agreed to, which were put in place to lower the risk of Starling facilitating financial crime.”
Starling, which says it has paid the fine, has now established programmes to remediate these breaches and to enhance its wider financial crime control framework.
Chair David Sproul said: “I would like to apologise for the failings outlined by the FCA and to provide reassurance that we have invested heavily to put things right, including strengthening our board governance and capabilities.”