Watchdog fines Citibank's London branch £4.7m for breaching Russian sanctions

 Citibank’s London branch has been fined £4.7million by a UK watchdog for breaching Russian sanctions.

The arm of one of Wall Street’s biggest banks processed hundreds of transactions in breach of rules, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) found.

Some 970 payments worth about £19.7million were made, including to Russian banks Alfa-Bank JSC, PJSC Gazprombank and Credit Bank of Moscow. 

Most were between February and November 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Errors led to individuals or companies accessing funds or making payments that should have been restricted.

OFSI said there was no intention to undermine sanctions, but the breaches ‘significantly undermined the effectiveness of sanctions.’