Bank of England fines Vocalink £11.9m for compliance failure

(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England announced on Wednesday that it has fined Mastercard-backed payment systems company Vocalink for £11.9m, marking the first time the central bank has fined a financial market infrastructure firm. The fine relates to a compliance failure under section 196 of the Banking Act 2009, after the company failed to adequately remediate "a number of identified systems and controls issues" highlighted by the BoE.

The central bank, which has regulated Vocalink since 2018 given its position as a financial market infrastructure firm involved in the operation of UK payments systems, had given the company a deadline in February 2022 to comply with its requirements.

However, the Bank said Vocalink "failed to comply in full" with its requirements in time, blaming an "ineffective risk management framework, combined with weaknesses in its controls, governance arrangements and escalation processes".

Had the company not co-operated throughout the BoE's investigation, including the early admission of a compliance failure, and not been willing to resolve the matter, the fine imposed by the central bank would have been £20m.

In a statement, Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the BoE, said Vocalink "fell short of its obligation" to have appropriate risk management and governance processes in place.

"The Bank's investigation identified the root cause of Vocalink's non-compliance was the failure to have in place a sufficiently integrated risk management framework for the remediation programme. This would have ensured that risks facing the programme could be properly understood, monitored and shared amongst the three lines of defence (and external assurance providers)," the Bank said.