Why UK Banks Get Fined for AML Failings: A Content Analysis of FCA Enforcement Notices, 2013-2025
Abstract: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined UK banks more than £730 million for anti-money laundering (AML) failings since 2013, yet few studies have examined what those cases share. This paper reports a content analysis of the 20 FCA Final and Decision Notices that meet stated inclusion criteria, issued to banks and building societies between August 2013 and December 2025 and coded against an eleven-category codebook drawn from the Money Laundering Regulations and FCA rules. Notices recorded a median of seven failure types. Customer due diligence, governance and failure to fix known weaknesses each appeared in 17 notices; in 11 of those 17, the FCA or an external reviewer had raised the weakness first. Penalties excluding disgorgement rose with breach length (Spearman ρ = 0.73), but this largely reflects the penalty formula, which applies a percentage to revenue earned over the breach period. Growth outpacing controls and breach of a voluntary requirement appeared only from 2020. Foreign-owned banks accounted for 11 cases and 46.5 percent of penalties, but foreign-owned subsidiaries had a median penalty of £4.9 million against £39.3 million for UK-owned banks. Known weaknesses left unresolved are the most consistent feature of the cases that reach enforcement.
Keywords: Anti-money laundering, Financial Conduct Authority, Enforcement, Bank penalties, Content analysis
How to Cite?: Malki Senevirathne, "Why UK Banks Get Fined for AML Failings: A Content Analysis of FCA Enforcement Notices, 2013-2025", Volume 15 Issue 10, October 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 175-183, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR261002052109, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR261002052109