Lloyds fined for breaching Russian sanctions after opening an account for an ally of Putin
Lloyds Banking Group has been penalised for breaching Russian sanctions after opening an account for an ally of Vladimir Putin.The High Street lender was hit with a penalty of £160,000 after its Halifax arm allowed Dmitry Ovsyannikov to become a customer in 2023 – even though he was a ‘designated person’.The fine, from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), came after Ovsyannikov was last year jailed for 40 months for sanction-busting.The 48-year-old, who was appointed governor of Sevastopol by PresidentPutin following the annexation of Crimea, moved to the UK in 2023 after obtaining a British passport despite being on the sanctions list.At the time of Ovsyannikov’s conviction, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said: ‘Mr Ovsyannikov thought he could hide from our sanctions. [The] verdict proves otherwise. We are resolutely committed to increasing pressure on Putin, his cronies and all those who aid his barbaric war in Ukraine.’ 'Designated person': Lloyds was hit with a penalty of £160,000 after its Halifax arm allowed Dmitry Ovsyannikov (pictured) to become a customer in 2023Ovsyannikov, whose father was born in Bradford, opened the Halifax account on February 6, 2023, and the bank processed 24 payments totalling £77,383 between February 8 and February 24. It is understood this included tens of thousands of pounds transferred by his wife, Ekaterina Ovsyannikova.He was able to open the Halifax account because his British passport contained a different spelling of his name to the one on the sanctions list. This meant the account was not flagged as a potential match by the bank’s automatic sanctions screening system.But a fuller review did identify him as a designated person, and the account was frozen and the authorities were informed.The OFSI said its £160,000 fine followed a 50 per cent reduction because the bank voluntarily disclosed the breaches a month after the payments were made. The maximum penalty is £1million.A Lloyds spokesman said: ‘Lloyds Banking Group takes its regulatory responsibilities extremely seriously. We acted swiftly and transparently, proactively referring this one-off, isolated matter to the OFSI and working closely with them throughout.‘OFSI has recognised our prompt voluntary disclosure, resulting in the maximum possible reduction of the penalty.’DIY INVESTING PLATFORMSAJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.Compare the best investing account for you
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Lloyds fined for breaching Russian sanctions after opening an account for an ally of Putin
