The Financial Conduct Authority has censured asset servicing bank CACEIS UK and secured a GBP 31.7 million voluntary payment for WealthTek clients after finding weak financial crime controls that left client assets exposed to serious risk. The FCA did not impose a fine because CACEIS UK extensively cooperated and agreed to the payment, but said it would otherwise have levied a GBP 23.091 million penalty after a 30% settlement discount. CACEIS UK became WealthTek's sub-custodian in November 2020, making it responsible for safeguarding client assets. The FCA found that, on three occasions, the firm checked the Financial Services Register, which showed WealthTek was not authorized to hold certain client assets, but did not take sufficient action. It also failed to identify that WealthTek was not permitted to hold client money, opened client accounts for the firm, and then did not monitor those accounts properly because system alerts were not reviewed and resolved promptly. Of the GBP 31.7 million, WealthTek's administrators will receive GBP 30.9 million and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme will receive GBP 800,000 under its recovery duties. The payment is for WealthTek clients who have not recovered their money in full and brings the FCA's total secured for those clients to more than GBP 57 million from action against CACEIS UK, Sapia Partners and Barclays Bank UK.
Financial Conduct Authority2026-06-25
Financial Conduct Authority censures CACEIS UK and secures GBP 31.7 million payment for WealthTek clients
The Financial Conduct Authority has censured CACEIS UK and secured a GBP 31.7 million voluntary payment for WealthTek clients over weak financial crime controls. The FCA found the bank failed to act on register checks, missed that WealthTek could not hold client money, and did not properly monitor client accounts. It said a GBP 23.091 million fine would otherwise have been imposed.