Britain’s financial watchdog has fined Barclays £72 million ($109 million) for cutting corners in vetting wealthy customers in order to win a huge transaction described by one senior manager as potentially the “deal of the century,” Arab News reported. Barclays arranged the £1.9 billion transaction in 2011 and 2012 for a number of rich clients deemed by the regulator to be politically exposed persons, or people holding prominent positions that could be open to financial abuse. That should require a bank to conduct more detailed checks on them, but Barclays failed to do so and in fact cut corners with its compliance procedures, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said in a damning report on Thursday. “Barclays did not follow its standard procedures, preferring instead to take on the clients as quickly as possible and thereby generated £52.3 million in revenue,” the FCA said. It said the bank took unusual steps to keep the details of the clients and the transaction off its computer system, where it would normally be recorded.
