Nationwide has been hit with a £44m fine by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) due to failures in its financial crime controls.

The building society group has come under fire from the FCA for missing opportunities to identify fraudulent Covid furlough payments.

According to the FCA, one customer received 24 payments, totalling more than £27m, across a span of 13 months.

Of this amount, more than £26m was deposited within just eight days, as reported by City AM . HMRC has managed to recover £26.5m from the case, but up to £800,000 remains unaccounted for.

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: " Nationwide failed to get a proper grip of the financial crime risks lurking within its customer base. It took too long to add

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