On 24 March 2026, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), announced that it had imposed a £2million fine on the fintech, Bank of London, and its parent company, Oplyse Holdings, for a number of failings, including failing to conduct its business with integrity.
Background
Between October 2021 and May 2024, the PRA's investigation found that the Bank of London conducted multiple regulatory breaches of the PRA Rulebook including Fundamental Rules 1, 3, 5 and 7 by:
- failing to comply with its regulatory capital requirements over an extended period;
- failing to be open and transparent with the regulator on numerous further occasions, including in relation to their deteriorating solvency position. The Bank of London's leadership team failed to tell regulators about crisis talks held to prepare the Bank for insolvency in 2024; and
- failing to act in a prudent manner, including failing to manage or report a large exposure resulting from a loan from the Bank of London Group to Oplyse Holdings Limited.
This marks the first instance that the PRA has penalised a firm for failing to conduct its business with integrity, a requirement under Fundamental Rule 1 of the PRA Rulebook which obliges firms to act with integrity in all of their business dealings. It is also the first time the PRA has taken enforcement action against a parent financial holding company of a bank, rather than just the bank alone.
While the PRA reports that numerous matters contributed to the breaches, the most serious included the falsification of documents by a senior manager and misrepresentation of the capital position of the bank by former members of the senior management team.
Comment
Although the breaches were deemed to warrant a significantly higher penalty of £12 million, the PRA, the Bank of London and Oplyse agreed to settle the matter, and the fines were reduced to £2 million after the companies demonstrated that "such a penalty would cause financial hardship". Whilst the Bank was launched in 2021 with an £820 million valuation, it has struggled financially in recent years with losses of up to £24 million. The fine also comes after a period of significant management instability at the Bank. Their current CEO is the Banks fourth CEO in 14 months and the current owner, only took over from the founder in 2025.
The Bank can consider itself fortunate that it did not lose its banking licence due to the seriousness of the breaches, particularly the fabrication of documents. Were it not for the change in management and ownership at the bank, it perhaps would have. However, the Bank will face an uphill task to regain credibility. That a bank should cite financial hardship as a reason to mitigate a penalty hardly instils confidence.
The PRA has made no findings against any individuals – yet.