Bank of London Reports Loss as Regulatory Oversight Continues

Bank of London is still under investigation by U.K. regulators amid ongoing losses.

The clearing bank recorded a net loss of 24 million pounds for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, according to corporate filings from last week, flagged in a Saturday (Jan. 24) report by the Dow Jones-owned Financial News.

Those filings, which the report said were submitted late for the second year running, said the losses came from investment in infrastructure and hiring “the high-calibre workforce required.”

Bank of London offers payment and settlement solutions to business customers, including licensing its technology for corporations to provide regulated banking services.

According to Financial News, the bank has been trying to recover from a series of financial and regulatory obstacles since 2024 that have placed its governance under scrutiny.

The news follows the revelation in the company’s financial accounts last year that the bank was being investigated by the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) for unnamed “historic” events, as well as inaccurate record-keeping, lax regulatory reporting and governance failures.

A report by the Financial Times said those financial accounts were filed seven months late and were qualified by auditors because of “inadequate historical records” about an employee share option plan. Auditors were also concerned about whether Bank of London would be able to access an adequate amount of new funds, execute its business plans and manage any “punitive outcomes” from the investigation.

“The firm remains subject to enhanced regulatory supervision from the PRA and Financial Conduct Authority,” the newest accounts said. “There is a pathway to removing these measures based on the resolution of the various underlying matters that is underway as at the date of signing these financial statements.”

A Bank of London spokesperson on Monday (Jan. 26) provided this statement to PYMNTS: “These accounts once again relate to a financial year in which the Bank operated under entirely different leadership and ownership. The results are in line with Directors’ expectations and reflect continued progress on a comprehensive transformation under new ownership and leadership.  Since the refinancing in H2 2024, led by Mangrove Capital, the Group has secured £80mn of funding and has investor commitments to ensure the Group remains fully funded.”

In 2024, Bank of London was late on paying its taxes after an internal miscommunication caused a delay.

The Financial News report says that the 2024 accounts cover a rough patch for Bank of London. That was a period in which the company restructured to ease pressure on its finances. It began onboarding clients in April 2023, and the next summer turned investors for an urgent cash infusion to meet regulatory capital requirements.

In other news from the British banking world, regulators in England last week announced they had cleared an open banking project by the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI).

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSA) said they will not prioritize a competition investigation into the centralized “access fee” pricing model the UKPI is developing for commercial variable recurring payments (cVRPs).

As noted in the announcement, cVRPs are a type of open banking technology that allow customers to give trusted third parties secure and recurring access to their accounts to handle payments on their behalf.