Bank of England fines Vocalink more than $16 million for compliance failure

LONDON (Reuters) -The Bank of England said on Wednesday it had fined payment systems firm Vocalink Limited 11.9 million pounds ($16.19 million) for falling short of its obligation to have adequate risk management and governance arrangements.

Owned by U.S. payment processor Mastercard, Vocalink designs, builds and operates bank account-based payment systems in Britain, processing over 90% of salaries, more than 70% of household bills and 98% of state benefits, according to its website.

The fine was reduced from 20 million pounds because the company admitted the failure early and agreed to resolve the matter, the Bank of England statement said.

($1 = 0.7349 pounds)

(Reporting by Muvija M, writing by Sam Tabahriti; editing by William James)