Online Challenger Banks

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The noble Lord will know that the money laundering regulations rightly mean that, for new customers opening an account, banks are required to take due diligence measures to verify the customers’ identity, assess the intended purpose of the account and flag any suspicious transactions to law enforcement. The regulations are not prescriptive in setting out specific steps that banks should undertake to satisfy customer due diligence, but instead require them to take a proportionate approach, which I think is what the noble Lord is asking for. Each bank will therefore have its own policies and procedures, and those policies should be informed by each bank’s own assessment of the risk faced by its services and customers, based on sources such as the national risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, this year has seen a massive increase in offshore unregulated betting. Are these challenger banks following the same procedures and checks as the normal high street banks?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

Yes, they would be required to do so.