Bank of Scotland fined £160,000 over account for sanctioned Putin ally | Banking
The Bank of Scotland has been fined £160,000 by Britain’s sanctions watchdog for opening a bank account and processing payments for an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dmitrii Ovsiannikov, the first person Lawsuit filed for violating UK sanctions Last year, in February 2023, he made 24 payments totaling £77,383 into his personal current account.
who is russian UK government included in sanctions listHe held senior positions in the Russian government, such as being the former governor of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.
On November 21, 2017, the European Union declared Ovsiannikov a designated person under sanctions legislation, saying his work endangered or threatened Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
This restricted him from entering or accessing funds in member states, including the UK, which was still a member of the EU at the time. It was later added to Britain’s list when the country left the bloc.
The EU canceled Ovsiannikov’s appointment in 2022 but he remained on the UK list.
During the criminal prosecution, the court said that on August 4, 2022, the person who traveled from Russia to Türkiye three days ago applied online for a British passport from Türkiye.
In the banking case, the Office of Financial Sanctions Enforcement (OFSI) found that Ovsiannikov opened an account in Halifax, part of the Bank of Scotland, on February 6, 2023, using his UK passport, which contained a different spelling variation of his name. Those on the sanctions list.
This meant the account was not flagged as a potential match by the bank’s automated sanctions screening system.
The account remained unrestricted until February 24, 2023, when the bank identified him as a designated person under politically exposed person screening.
The fine imposed on Bank of Scotland, part of Lloyds Banking Group, was cut by 50 per cent after it voluntarily disclosed the breaches a month after the payments were made.
A spokesman for Lloyds Banking Group said it “takes its regulatory responsibilities extremely seriously”.
“We acted quickly and transparently by proactively raising this one-off, isolated matter with OFSI and working closely with them,” the company said.
“OFSI accepted our voluntary expedited clarification, which resulted in the penalty being reduced to the maximum extent possible.
“We have further strengthened our controls to ensure we continue to meet the highest standards of risk management and governance.”
Ovsiannikov’s name was not included in the OFSI announcement. However, a source familiar with the case confirmed that he was the person in question.
Efforts to contact Ovsiannikov were unsuccessful.
