British finance regulators fined the country's fourth-biggest bank, HBOS, £1.25 million sterling today after finding it the latest bank to have breached money-laundering rules.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the company's Bank of Scotland unit had failed to keep proper records of customer identification as required by its money-laundering rules.
The fine on HBOS, Britain's biggest listed mortgage lender, follows a £2.3 million fine in December against bank Abbey National for lax checks to prevent money laundering.
The FSA said its investigation "confirmed weaknesses in BoS' record keeping systems and controls across its retail, corporate and business banking divisions."
An HBOS spokesman said the bank regretted the error and accepted the FSA's notice, although he added that HBOS had found no evidence of any money laundering or of any customers having been adversely affected.