Former boss of Gupta-linked Wyelands Bank fined over breaches of senior manager rules
The main banking watchdog has fined Iain Mark Hunter, former chief executive of wound-down Wyelands Bank, £118,808 for “material breaches” of senior manager rules, including how the lender handled ties to steel tycoon Sanjay Gupta.
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) found that between 7 March 2016 and 28 May 2020 Hunter breached conduct rules over regulatory record keeping and monitoring large exposures.
The regulator publicly censured Wyelands last April and said it would have fined the lender more than £8.5m for a plethora of failures.
Wyelands was part of the GFG Alliance – a collection of companies run by Gupta. It was also the largest client of Greensill Capital.
As part of a settlement agreement, Hunter is now banned from taking up another senior management position regulated by the PRA.
Sam Woods, chief executive of the PRA, said the outcome reflected “material breaches” of senior manager and individual conduct rules.
“If senior individuals fail to meet the conduct rules, as Mr Hunter did, it undermines the trust in financial institutions and the wider financial system,” he added.
“Mr Hunter failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that large exposures risks relating to Wyelands’ business were appropriately identified and mitigated, and failed to take appropriate steps to verify the accuracy of statements he made to the PRA.
“The PRA has taken significant action against Mr Hunter because his management created prudential risks for the firm, threatened its safety and soundness and contributed to the firm’s breaches of a number of PRA rules and regulations.”
The PRA said Hunter failed to comply with Wyelands’ policy on potential conflicts of interest with GFG and did not take appropriate steps over analysis of Wyelands’ connected parties before March 2019.
Hunter did not respond to a request for comment by Morning Wire, while GFG declined to comment.