BOE fines MasterCard’s Vocalink GBP 11.9M over compliance failure

The Bank of England has fined Vocalink GBP 11,900,000 in respect of a compliance failure under section 196 of the Banking Act 2009. This is the first time the Bank has fined a financial market infrastructure firm. Vocalink has been regulated by the Bank since April 2018 as a specified service provider, a type of financial market infrastructure firm involved in the operation of UK payments systems. Vocalink was required by the Bank to remediate a number of identified systems and controls issues via a direction issued under section 191 of the Act. Vocalink implemented a remediation programme in response and had until 28 February 2022 to comply with the Direction’s requirements. However, an ineffective risk management framework, combined with weaknesses in its controls, governance arrangements and escalation processes meant that it failed to comply in full with the Direction’s requirements by the deadline. Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, said: “Vocalink fell short of its obligation to have adequate risk management and governance arrangements when responding to the Bank’s Direction. Its failure to comply with that Direction in full has resulted in a significant fine.”