{"id":724350,"date":"2026-01-27T14:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/724350\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:57:09","slug":"lloyds-owned-bank-of-scotland-fined-for-breaching-uks-russia-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/724350\/","title":{"rendered":"Lloyds-owned Bank of Scotland fined for breaching UK&#8217;s Russia sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul data-testid=\"Summary\" class=\"summary-module__summary__QjADA\">\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Bank processed 24 payments for sanctioned individual in 2023, OFSI says<\/li>\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Lloyds voluntarily reported breach, penalty halved due to disclosure<\/li>\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Account was opened for Dmitrii Ovsyannikov, source says<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) &#8211; Bank of Scotland, part of Lloyds Banking Group <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/LLOY.L\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">(LLOY.L), opens new tab<\/a>, has been fined 160,000 pounds ($218,640) for breaching Britain&#8217;s financial sanctions regime after it opened an account for a previously high-ranking Russian government figure who was a designated person on the UK&#8217;s sanctions list.<\/p>\n<p>The bank processed 24 payments in February 2023 totalling about 77,000 pounds to and from a personal current account held by a UK-designated person, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said on Monday.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"promo-box\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__promo-box__hVl8h\"> Sign up  <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/finance\/uk-fines-bank-scotland-breaching-russia-sanctions-2026-01-26\/undefined?location=article-paragraph&amp;redirectUrl=%2Fbusiness%2Ffinance%2Fuk-fines-bank-scotland-breaching-russia-sanctions-2026-01-26%2F\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the account was opened for Dmitrii Ovsyannikov, a British citizen.<\/p>\n<p>The OFSI said the person in question, who it did not identify, had used a British passport containing a spelling variation of their name on the designation list when opening the account with Halifax, part of the Bank of Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>Ovsyannikov was sentenced to 40 months in prison last year after he was found guilty of breaching UK sanctions and money laundering.<\/p>\n<p>He held several senior positions in the Russian government and was appointed by President Vladimir Putin as the governor of Sevastopol following Russia&#8217;s annexation of Crimea, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said last April after the conviction.<\/p>\n<p>OFSI &#8211; the UK finance ministry agency that enforces government sanctions &#8211; said it had concluded that the bank breached prohibitions on dealing with, and making funds available to, a sanctioned person.<\/p>\n<p>The watchdog said Lloyds voluntarily reported the payments on behalf of Bank of Scotland in March 2023, and that the final penalty amount was halved owing to the voluntary disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the fine, a Lloyds spokesperson said the company had &#8220;acted swiftly and transparently, proactively referring this one-off, isolated matter to OFSI&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have further strengthened our controls to ensure we continue to meet the highest standards of risk management and governance,&#8221; the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>Peters &amp; Peters, a London law firm representing Ovsyannikov, released a statement on Tuesday saying their client &#8220;has consistently maintained that he thought that the European General Court&#8217;s 2022 decision annulling his listing and his removal from the EU sanctions would also apply in the UK&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He will not be commenting further.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ovsyannikov has been on Britain&#8217;s sanctions list since 2017, and was granted a British passport in January 2023, according to the CPS.<\/p>\n<p>($1 = 0.7318 pounds)<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"SignOff\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__extra_small__8Buss body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__extra_small_body__Bfz20 sign-off-module__text__LQAMP\">Reporting by Muvija M, Lawrence White and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; Writing by Sarah Young; Editing by William James, Alexandra Hudson and Jan Harvey<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__element__5eCce article-body-module__trust-badge__5mS3f\">Our Standards: <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en\/about-us\/trust-principles.html\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__medium__2Rl30 text-module__small__sph8i link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersagency.com\/en\/licensereuterscontent\/?utm_medium=rcom-article-media&amp;utm_campaign=rcom-rcp-lead\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"button-module__link__A3sD0 button-module__secondary__70gBu button-module__round__QDFgq button-module__w_auto__Sem-F\" data-testid=\"LicenceContentButton\" rel=\"noopener\">Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bank processed 24 payments for sanctioned individual in 2023, OFSI says Lloyds voluntarily reported breach, penalty halved due&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[521,124888,84732,84733,84734,208759,84736,51,84749,124889,202020,84737,202021,168726,168721,201812,168727,201806,168730,168724,168731,201809,201814,201807,168743,213661,202702,202039,202037,168733,201810,168728,168734,201808,168723,201815,201813,168732,202033,120873,12920,124890,84751,3671,84739,209640,2732,124880,7900,124886,213654,124882,201801,168719,168741,168742,124885,84744,84729,204963,209274,16,15,84750],"class_list":{"0":"post-724350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-asxpac","10":"tag-bisv","11":"tag-bnk","12":"tag-bnks","13":"tag-bnks1","14":"tag-bsvc","15":"tag-business","16":"tag-ceeu","17":"tag-cisc","18":"tag-clj","19":"tag-cmpny","20":"tag-crim","21":"tag-destabn","22":"tag-destabx","23":"tag-destafa","24":"tag-destbnx","25":"tag-destcsa","26":"tag-destdnp","27":"tag-deste","28":"tag-destfun","29":"tag-destg","30":"tag-destgns","31":"tag-destlby","32":"tag-destlita","33":"tag-destobnk","34":"tag-destoukbsm","35":"tag-destoukdnm","36":"tag-destouktpm","37":"tag-destpco","38":"tag-destpge","39":"tag-destpsc","40":"tag-destrbn","41":"tag-destreulb","42":"tag-destrnp","43":"tag-destrws","44":"tag-destrwsa","45":"tag-destucdptest","46":"tag-destuki","47":"tag-dip","48":"tag-emea","49":"tag-emrg","50":"tag-europ","51":"tag-fin","52":"tag-fins","53":"tag-fraud1","54":"tag-gb","55":"tag-gen","56":"tag-legal","57":"tag-nasia","58":"tag-nrlpaobnk","59":"tag-pol","60":"tag-privt","61":"tag-publ","62":"tag-regs","63":"tag-reuters-legal","64":"tag-ru","65":"tag-topcmb","66":"tag-topnws","67":"tag-trd","68":"tag-trdemb","69":"tag-uk","70":"tag-united-kingdom","71":"tag-weu"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}