Has Starling Bank had a publicly reported AI incident?
Yes. As of Oct 21, 2026, the register holds 1 publicly reported AI incident at Starling Bank since January 2022. The most recent is "FCA fines Starling £29m after its automated sanctions screening checked only part of the list" (Oct 2, 2024), status: regulator finding, severity 4 of 5. Last swept Oct 21, 2026 (16 queries).
| Date | Institution | Incident | AI? | Role | Category | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2, 2024 | Starling Bank | FCA fines Starling £29m after its automated sanctions screening checked only part of the list | Automation, not AI | Governance finding | Regulatory finding | 4 | Regulator finding |
Oct 2, 2024 · Governance finding · severity 4/5
FCA fines Starling £29m after its automated sanctions screening checked only part of the list
On 2 October 2024 the FCA fined Starling Bank £28,959,426 for financial-crime failings. Per the FCA, Starling found in January 2023 that its automated sanctions-screening system had, since 2017, screened customers against only a fraction of the UK sanctions list: a misconfiguration meant only people with UK citizenship or residency, 39 of 3,088 designated persons, were checked, and at least one designated person opened an account. The fine also covers Starling opening 54,359 accounts for 49,183 high-risk customers in breach of a voluntary FCA restriction, so not all of it relates to the screening system. Starling accepted the findings, apologised and said it had re-screened transactions. The screening system was automated and not described as AI.
Not incidents: precautions and statements with no reported harm.
Entries come from the register of AI incidents at banks: events since January 2022, each sourced to two independent publishers or one official or court document, with the institution's response recorded. A sweep searches news, regulator, court and security sources for the institution by name; its date, query count and result are logged on the register's method section.
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