City fines fall to 7-year low despite debanking saga

FINES issued by the City watchdog have plunged to a seven-year low amid heightened scrutiny of its enforcement action following the Natwest debanking scandal.

The Financial Conduct Authority said £53m in fines were imposed for the year ending December, marking a 75pc drop on the £216m total recorded for 2022. It is the lowest level since 2016 when the FCA handed out £22m in fines.

This year’s total comes after the FCA faced intense pressure to use its powers to investigate possible debanking of customers.

The row between Natwest and Nigel Farage over the closure of his Coutts account prompted an urgent review about whether banks were breaking the rules by denying accounts on political grounds. Jeremy Hunt, the

Chancellor, urged the FCA to act and said the agency could fine banks “very large sums of money” if they were found to have broken rules.

However, the FCA subsequently found no evidence that any accounts had been closed because of a customer’s political viewpoint.

The level of FCA fines can change dramatically owing to the length of time it can take to finalise a penalty. In one instance this year, the regulator fined former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley £1.8m over his links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, although it is not accounted for in the 2023 total because the fine is being appealed.

One of the largest FCA fines of 2023, £11m imposed on Equifax for failings over a cyber attack, also related to an incident in 2017. The sixyear inquiry ruled the hack, which affected 14m Britons, was “entirely preventable”.