By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
THE UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has fined the London branch of Citibank £4.7 million over breaches of Russian sanctions.
OFSI said the case involved 970 transactions worth approximately £19.7 million. The transactions were processed between 2022 and 2025.
“The majority of the breaches occurred between February and November 2022 following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” OSFI said.
“[They] arose across the bank’s operations, including payment processing, correspondent banking and account restrictions.”
OFSI said Citibank, N.A., London Branch (CBNA London) had “particularly high exposure to future Russia sanctions risks in February 2022”. This was due to its “Russian client base” and correspondent banking operations involving Russian financial institutions.
The bank also processed payments relating to its Russian affiliate, AO Citibank. Citi has since sold the affiliate.
OFSI said the Russian sanctions introduced after the invasion created “significant operational challenges” for firms with exposure to the country. The regulator took this into account when assessing the breaches.
However, OFSI concluded that the breaches still warranted a monetary penalty.
CBNA London voluntarily disclosed most of the breaches to OFSI. The bank also cooperated with OFSI’s investigation and undertook remediation.
OFSI said CBNA London qualified for a “voluntary disclosure and co-operation discount of 20%”. It also applied a 20% settlement discount.
Those discounts resulted in a final penalty of £4,732,830.58 ($6.4 million).
OFSI issued its Notice of Intention to impose the penalty on June 15, 2026. Formal settlement discussions began on July 1. The settlement was agreed on August 11.
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