Barclays has been fined £42 million by the Financial Conduct Authority after the regulator uncovered serious shortcomings in the bank’s handling of financial crime risks, including failures that exposed it to money laundering through two separate firms, WealthTek and Stunt & Co.

The fine is divided between Barclays Bank UK PLC and Barclays Bank PLC, and relates to discrete breaches in anti-money laundering (AML) controls. In both cases, the FCA found that the bank failed to obtain or act upon critical information that would have flagged significant risks at the outset of its relationships with these firms.

Barclays Bank UK PLC was fined £2.1 million in connection with a client money account it opened for WealthTek. According to the FCA, the bank did not check whether WealthTek was authorised to hold client money before opening the account — a basic step that would have shown it lacked the necessary permissions. As a result, clients went on to deposit £34 million into the account.

The FCA said the bank’s failure to adequately assess the risk heightened the chances of misappropriation or laundering of client funds. In December 2024, WealthTek’s principal partner was charged with multiple criminal offences including fraud and money laundering.

Barclays has agreed to make a voluntary payment of £6.3 million to WealthTek’s clients who have been left with a shortfall in recovered funds.

The bank also received a substantial reduction in its fine in recognition of its cooperation with the regulator and its willingness to compensate affected customers.

In a separate but related case, Barclays Bank PLC was fined £39.3 million for inadequate controls in its relationship with Stunt & Co, which had financial links to Fowler Oldfield — a gold dealer at the centre of one of the UK’s largest money laundering operations.

The FCA found that Barclays failed to conduct proper due diligence when it took on Stunt & Co as a customer, and did not carry out effective ongoing monitoring. Between September 2015 and November 2016, Stunt & Co received £46.8 million from Fowler Oldfield.

Despite receiving alerts from law enforcement about suspected laundering and news that police had raided both firms, Barclays did not immediately reassess the risks or review its exposure. It only launched a formal review after learning that the FCA was prosecuting NatWest in connection with Fowler Oldfield.

By continuing to provide banking services to Stunt & Co, Barclays facilitated the flow of funds linked to financial crime, the FCA said.

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said the cases highlighted the serious consequences of weak financial crime controls.

“The consequences of poor financial crime controls are very real – they allow criminals to launder the proceeds of their crimes, and they allow fraudsters to defraud consumers,” she said.

“Banks need to take responsibility and act promptly, particularly when obvious risks are brought to their attention.”

The regulator acknowledged that Barclays has since engaged in a significant remediation programme aimed at strengthening its anti-money laundering framework.

The £42 million penalty adds to a growing list of enforcement actions by the FCA against firms it deems to have failed in their responsibilities to prevent the abuse of the financial system.