HSBC has been fined almost £300,000 for allowing a court order to be breached.
The Financial Services Authority issued the fine, which included a 30% reduction due to its cooperation and efforts to rectify the issues.
In August 2023 the bank discovered that earlier the same month it had paid away funds in the form of three recurring payments for a client that were subject to a Restraint Order issued by the Isle of Man Courts pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The Court Order restrained, inter alia, dealing with funds in respect of specified bank accounts in the name of a client of HSBC but permitted certain monthly payments to be made.
The FSA found: “The contravention arose because the preventative controls were not manually reapplied to the account after consented monthly payments had been made resulting in three recurring payment transactions leaving the account.”
HSBC notified the Authority itself of the matter and the FSA said the people involved at the bank have “taken full responsibility for the issues identified by the Authority”.
In a second breach, it allowed an issued a cheque without the required consent from the Financial Intelligence Unit. Following a request from the FSA, HSBC subsequently submitted the relevant notification of that breach.
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