PRA fines The Bank of London and its parent company, Oplyse Holdings Limited, £2m
The Prudential Regulation Authority has fined The Bank of London Group Limited and its parent company Oplyse Holdings Limited, formerly known as The Bank of London Group Holdings Limited, a combined £2 million. The penalty stems from the firms' misleading the PRA about their capital positions, failing to act with integrity, failing to cooperate openly with the regulator, and failing to maintain adequate financial resources. The violations took place between October 2021 and May 2024.
This case marks two firsts for the PRA: it is the first time the regulator has penalized a firm specifically for failing to conduct its business with integrity, and the first time it has taken enforcement action against a parent financial holding company. The original penalty was set at £12 million, but was reduced to £2 million after the firms demonstrated that paying the full amount would cause serious financial hardship. The matter has been settled by agreement between the PRA and both firms.
Bank of America Agrees to Pay $72.5 Million to Settle Epstein Lawsuit
Bank of America has agreed to a $72.5 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit alleging the bank maintained relationships with individuals in Jeffrey Epstein's circle and failed to report suspicious financial activity involving Epstein, his associates, and his victims.
The proposed class-action suit was filed on behalf of a woman who said she was sexually abused and trafficked by Epstein between 2011 and 2019, along with other alleged victims. The lawsuit claimed the bank financially benefited from its connections to Epstein's network and failed to file suspicious activity reports with the government, based on information from the accounts it held for people close to him. The case was notably distinct from other bank-related Epstein lawsuits in that it did not center on Epstein holding accounts directly at Bank of America.
Epstein was indicted in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges involving minors and had previously been convicted years earlier of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl. Bank of America stated that the settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.
Australia court fines Binance unit $6.9 million over client onboarding failures
An Australian federal court has ordered Binance's local subsidiary to pay A$10 million, equivalent to approximately $6.9 million, for misclassifying more than 85% of its Australian clients, a failure that exposed them to high-risk cryptocurrency products. The penalty follows legal action initiated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in late 2024.
Binance Australia Derivatives, a unit of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, acknowledged the failures in a statement of agreed facts submitted to ASIC. The court found that between July 2022 and April 2023, the firm wrongly classified 524 retail investors as wholesale clients, thereby giving them access to high-risk crypto derivatives without the consumer protections to which they were entitled. The misclassified investors collectively incurred A$8.7 million in trading losses and paid A$3.9 million in fees.
