FCA fines and enforcement actions in 2014

On 20 November 2014 the FCA fined Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank £42 million for the IT meltdown of June 2012, when a software compatibility problem in the banks' systems left more than 6.5 million UK customers unable to use online banking, see accurate balances at cash machines or make payments — in some cases for several weeks. The FCA found the immediate cause was a software compatibility problem, but the underlying failure was that the banks had not put in place adequate systems and controls to identify and manage their exposure to IT risk, breaching the rule that firms must organise and control their affairs responsibly. The banks settled at an early stage and received a 30% discount. In the first joint enforcement action of its kind, the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority separately fined the banks £14 million for the same incident, taking the total to £56 million.

On 12 November 2014 the FCA fined The Royal Bank of Scotland £217 million as part of a record £1.1 billion settlement with five banks (RBS, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and UBS) over failings in their spot foreign exchange trading. Between 1 January 2008 and 15 October 2013 ineffective controls allowed traders to share confidential information about client orders in chat rooms and coordinate their trading to manipulate benchmark exchange rates, putting the banks' interests ahead of their clients and the wider financial system. RBS settled early and received a 30% discount; without it the fine would have been £310 million. The bank also paid $290 million to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission the same day, suspended three employees and launched a review of the conduct of more than 50 current and former traders.

On 24 September 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority fined Barclays Bank Plc £37,745,000.

On 28 July 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority fined Bank of Scotland plc £105,000,000.

On 28 July 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority fined Lloyds Bank PLC £105,000,000.

On 27 May 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority fined Barclays Bank Plc £26,033,500.

On 11 March 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority fined Stratos Markets Limited £4,000,000.