The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, has imposed a monetary penalty of £4,732,830.58 on the London branch of the US bank Citibank N.A. (CBNA London).
The penalty was imposed for breaches of the financial sanctions regime in respect of Russia, established under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021. The decision was taken on 11 August 2026 and published on 2 September 2026.
According to the regulator, the bank’s London unit processed 970 payments totalling approximately £19.72 million that were found to have breached prohibitions on dealing with frozen funds and making financial resources available to designated persons and entities. The majority of the breaches occurred between February and November 2022. Certain transactions were also recorded in subsequent years.
The operations concerned included payments linked to sanctioned Russian credit institutions, including Alfa-Bank, Gazprombank and Credit Bank of Moscow, as well as entities connected with PJSC Sovcomflot.
OFSI did not find any intent to breach the sanctions regime. At the same time, the regulator assessed the combination of errors and failings in control systems, alert handling and correspondent banking operations as material. The bank voluntarily disclosed the majority of the breaches and cooperated with the investigation, and the amount of the penalty was therefore reduced.