Analysis of FCA enforcement actions uncovers widespread data weaknesses as a key driver of regulatory failings and financial penalties

A new report from Kyckr, the provider of global company registry data, reveals that data deficiencies were a contributing factor to 68% of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) enforcement cases for anti-money laundering (AML) non-compliance between 2020 and 2025. The report, “The Data Blind Spot: Uncovering a Major Cause of UK AML Fines,” analyses AML failings in UK financial institutions and examines 22 FCA Final Notices totalling over £430 million in fines.

The report reveals four main categories of data failure, all of which highlight a consistent pattern and the root causes of information gaps:

Outdated and missing information - a contributing factor to 45% of fines. This included a reliance on outdated Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and investor lists and not collecting sufficient information on customers to contextualise transactions.
Failure to identify the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) of a given entity – a contributing factor to 32% of fines. This included not knowing who ultimately controls an entity – and building an ownership map from that – which enables financial crime professionals to “build the story” of an entity into a bigger picture.
Weak verification of wealth and funds – a contributing factor to 32% of fines. This included not knowing how much money a business has at its disposal, without which firms cannot contextualise customer transactions.
Discrepancies between customer declarations and the public record – a contributing factor to 18% of fines. This included failure to detect mismatches between “what a customer says about themselves” and “what the public record shows”.

The findings of the report highlight how the FCA is no longer satisfied with the policies firms have ‘on paper’. In AML compliance and the fight against financial crime, enforcement action now focuses on whether institutions can obtain, verify and continuously update accurate customer information in practice.

Steve Lamb, CEO at Kyckr, commented, “The problem firms face is that they are relying on outdated or incomplete data retrieved from siloed workflows. If poor data quality is a major contributor to AML fines, the solution isn’t more staff or bigger frameworks: it’s direct and ongoing access to authoritative company data.

“These findings show that policy alone isn’t enough and that data quality now plays a significant role in AML effectiveness. Financial institutions must be able to prove that their customer information is both accurate and verified in real time. Kyckr helps firms close this data blind spot by connecting directly to authoritative company registries, giving compliance teams instant, audit-ready access to verified information from over 300 global sources.”

Read the full report here: https://www.kyckr.com/guides-and-reports/kyckr-report-uk-aml-fines

About Kyckr

Kyckr is a B2B information services company that aggregates, organises and structures the world’s primary source company data to help businesses reduce the risks associated with counterparty relationships. Kyckr’s solutions help businesses to succeed in the fight against fraud, money laundering and financial crime.

To learn more about Kyckr, visit www.kyckr.com

Report methodology

Kyckr analysed 22 Final Notices imposed between 2020 and 2025 by the FCA for AML non-compliance at financial institutions and located issues that stemmed directly from insufficient data and information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260128338068/en/

Media contact
Email: kyckr@thoughtldr.com

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