The Financial Conduct Authority has announced the inclusion of the US-based Metro Bank to its financial crime watchlist, with plans to keep it under supervision. The decision of the FCA follows the ongoing management of financial crime risks within the group’s back book, as well as several specific concerns over the security and effectiveness of financial crime controls within the financial institutions’ online account provisions.

The watchlist is set to keep Metro Bank under supervision by senior watchdog officials and it is required to show progress and address all of the issues that represent a reason for concern. The admission of being added to the FCA’s watchlist was included in a prospectus in order to promote a rescue deal which was set to be revealed in October. The timing of these matters is uncertain as the financial institution can’t predict the outcome or a reliable estimate of any financial impact.

In addition, it has not made any financial provision in order to cover a potential penalty regarding the matter. FCA’s recent strategy of development In October 2023, the Germany-based B2B BNPL payment provider Mondu announced that it successfully registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as well as onboarding 16 new clients. Mondu was made available to businesses and merchants in multiple countries, including Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, as well as to buyers in France and Belgium.

After the FCA registration, 16 companies were set to go live with Mondu in the UK, including other customers that were businesses operating in software, business letting, and restaurant suppliers. At the same time, Mondu was enabled to launch with a range of businesses across the UK, a region where the B2B BNPL market was evolving and developing at the moment of the press release. Earlier in the same month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Modulr agreed on imposing client onboarding restrictions for the payments fintech.

Modulr offered its partners and businesses the needed payment infrastructures for their overall development process, and it worked with the regulator in order to make its systems and process compliant with the requirements and laws of the industry. FCA issued a restriction for the company in October 2023, preventing it from bringing new partners and customers, such as agents or distributors that would use its payments infrastructure for cards and accounts. Modulr agreed to temporarily pause the process of onboarding certain new client segments in the region of the UK, due to multiple new and revised UK regulations that came into force in 2023, as well as others that were set for 2024.

These included the new UK consumer duty, the adjustments to push payment fraud reimbursement, and the ban on incentive marketing for high-risk assets like crypto. .