• FCA fines Barclays £42 million for AML failings
• Bank failed to verify WealthTek’s client money permissions
• £34 million was deposited into an unauthorised account
• Barclays to pay £6.3 million in redress to affected clients
• Separate £39.3 million fine linked to Stunt & Co case
• £46.8 million passed through from a known laundering source
• Barclays failed to act on police and regulator warnings
• FCA says banks must act when risks are obvious
• Barclays is cooperating and overhauling its AML systems
• Financial crime remains a top FCA priority in 2024

Barclays Bank has been fined a total of £42 million by the Financial Conduct Authority after two separate investigations exposed serious shortcomings in its anti-money laundering controls.

The regulator found that Barclays Bank UK PLC and Barclays Bank PLC had each failed to properly assess or monitor high-risk clients, leading to significant exposure to financial crime.

In the first case, Barclays Bank UK PLC opened a client money account for WealthTek without conducting adequate due diligence.

The bank failed to verify whether WealthTek was authorised to hold client funds – something that could have been revealed by a simple check of the Financial Services Register.

As a result, £34 million was deposited into an account that should never have been opened, exposing consumers to the risk of fraud and misappropriation.

In December 2024, the FCA charged WealthTek’s principal partner with a string of criminal offences, including money laundering and fraud.

Barclays has agreed to pay £6.3 million in voluntary redress to WealthTek clients affected by the scandal.

In the second case, the FCA fined Barclays Bank PLC £39.3 million for providing banking services to Stunt & Co without properly managing the associated money laundering risks.

Over just 14 months, Stunt & Co received £46.8 million from Fowler Oldfield, a firm at the centre of a vast money laundering operation. Despite being alerted to the risk – first by law enforcement, then by police raids on both firms – Barclays failed to take timely action.

It was only after the FCA announced it would prosecute NatWest over its links to Fowler Oldfield that Barclays finally reviewed its own exposure. By that point, the bank had already facilitated the flow of tens of millions in criminal funds.

Therese Chambers, the FCA’s Joint Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, condemned the bank’s actions.

She warned that “poor financial crime controls” don’t just break rules – they enable real-world harm by allowing criminals and fraudsters to exploit the system unchecked.

While the bank received a discount on its fine for cooperating with the investigation and compensating affected consumers, the cases underline long-standing concerns over the strength of financial crime controls in major institutions.

Barclays says it continues to invest in an extensive remediation programme aimed at overhauling its anti-money laundering framework. The FCA, meanwhile, has identified financial crime as a top supervisory priority for retail banks in 2024.

Both cases reflect what regulators see as systemic weaknesses in how large institutions manage financial crime risks – especially when red flags are already flying.