- Digital bank Monzo has been fined over £21 million by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for significant anti-fraud failures.
- The FCA found that Monzo allowed customers to open accounts using "obviously implausible UK addresses" such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street.
- The failures, which occurred between October 2018 and August 2020, were attributed to Monzo's financial fraud systems and controls failing to keep pace with its rapid customer growth.
- Monzo also repeatedly breached a regulatory requirement, onboarding over 34,000 high-risk customers between August 2020 and June 2022.
- Monzo said it has since made "substantial improvements" to its systems, with CEO TS Anil stating: “The FCA’s findings relate to a historical period that ended three years ago and draw a line under issues that have been resolved”.
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