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The Bank of England has imposed an £11.9mn fine on Vocalink, an offshoot of Mastercard that operates a key part of UK payments infrastructure, over its “ineffective risk management framework” and weaknesses in internal controls and governance.
The BoE said on Wednesday that the fine reflected Vocalink’s failure to comply with the central bank’s requirement for it to fix a number of weaknesses in its systems and controls identified by supervisors by February 2022.
The penalty is a stinging rebuke for Vocalink, which operates a crucial part of UK financial infrastructure that enables the Bacs payments system, the UK Faster Payments system and the UK ATM Link platform covering 65,000 cash points.
“Vocalink fell short of its obligation to have adequate risk management and governance arrangements when responding to the Bank’s direction,” said Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability. “Its failure to comply with that direction in full has resulted in a significant fine.”
The fine represents the first of its kind levied by the BoE on a financial market infrastructure provider.
The central bank said Vocalink’s co-operation and its early admission of its compliance failures reduced its fine by 15 per cent and it qualified for a 30 per cent reduction by agreeing to resolve the matter. Without this mitigation, the fine would have been £20mn.
