Bank of Scotland has been fined £160,000 for breaking financial sanctions related to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The fine was imposed by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), which said the penalty related to transactions made three years ago.

According to the body, Bank of Scotland, which is a subsidiary of Lloyds Bank, processed 24 payments in February 2023 totalling £77,383 to and from a personal ‌current account ⁠held by a UK-designated ‌person.

The OFSI, which oversees sanctions levied against Russia on behalf of the Government, stated that the processing of these 24 payments had breached regulation 11 of its Russia Regulations.

Four of the payments, which Bank of Scotland processed to the account, were transferred from a separate account held at Bank of Scotland. The OFSI also concluded that by processing these four payments to the account, the bank had also breached regulation 12 of the Russia Regulations.

“OFSI imposed a monetary penalty on Bank of Scotland because it was satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, Bank of Scotland breached prohibitions imposed by financial sanctions legislation,” a statement by the regulator said.

Lloyds disclosed the breaches on behalf of its subsidiary in the following month after the transactions. As a result, the OFSI considered that Bank of Scotland was eligible for a voluntary disclosure discount and given a full 50% reduction to its financial penalty.

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