Bank of England slaps Citigroup with record £44m fine
Citigroup has been hit with a £44m fine from the Bank of England after falling short of financial information standards.
The Bank has slapped on the record penalty after Citigroup made “significant errors” in reporting its capital and liquidity positions between 2014 and 2018.
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The problems were “serious and widespread in nature” and meant the lender had not provided an accurate picture of its financial position.
The failures led to errors on six substantive matters that “had a material or potentially material impact on the returns”, according to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
Sam Woods, the PRA’s chief executive, said: “Citi failed to deliver accurate returns and failed to meet the standards of governance and oversight of regulatory reporting which we expect of a systemically important bank.”
The PRA added: “The pervasiveness of the errors and misstatements identified in the firm’s returns raised fundamental concerns about the effectiveness of Citi’s UK regulatory reporting control framework.”
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Citi cooperated with the PRA and as a result, it qualified for a 30 per cent discount on the penalty that would have otherwise been almost £63m.
The US bank said in a statement: “Citi places a high priority on meeting its regulatory reporting requirements, and has devoted significant resources to UK financial reporting before, during and after the period to which the PRA’s notice relates.”
“The PRA acknowledges that Citi has made substantial strategic enhancements to its regulatory reporting infrastructure in the UK, and has also conducted a review of the systems and controls underpinning its regulatory reporting framework.”