PwC fined £2.9m over audit of Sanjeev Gupta’s Wyelands Bank

PWC said it ‘acknowledged and apologised that aspects of this piece of work fell short of the required standards’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

PwC has been fined £2.9m and severely reprimanded by the UK’s accounting regulator for “serious failings” in its audit of the failed Wyelands Bank, which was owned by Sanjeev Gupta, the boss of troubled Liberty Steel.

The accountancy group was ordered by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to pay the penalty after issues with its audit of the lender’s accounts for the year to 30 April 2019 and told toensure the failings do not happen again.