Hello, welcome back. It's great to be with you again. This is a weekly podcast covering the top

regulatory stories from around the globe. Emlex is the name of our media organisation. My name is James Panicki.

Every week at this time I have a chat with members of our team to see what's firing up their imaginations.

And in just under 10 minutes from now, we'll be taking a look at one of the most significant stories to hit Europe this year, the increase

in energy prices. As we'll hear, natural causes are certainly part of the equation, but

the European Union being what it is means that politics and policy settings are always

very close to the surface. Our energy reporter Julia Bedini is standing

by to walk us through it. First up, though, it's not often that a bank in the UK is found guilty

of criminal money laundering charges. In fact, it has never happened before, which is why the

recent conviction of NatWest, a retail and commercial bank in the UK, is such big news.

It's an extraordinary tale that is likely to culminate in a massive fine.

Martin Coil is a senior M-lex correspondent based in London.

He covers anti-bribery and corruption along with money laundering and other financial

crime. And he has followed developments with Nat West with great attention. Martin, perhaps let's

start with an overview of what has happened with Nat West. Hi James. Yes. So Nat West pleaded guilty on the 7th of October at West. Hi James, yes. So, Nat West pleaded guilty on the 7th of October at Westminster Magistrate's Court

in London to money laundering charges bought by the UK's financial regulator, which is the

Financial Conduct Authority.

And at that hearing, it admitted three charges of failing to properly conduct ongoing

monitoring of a customer account between November 2012 and June 2016. And this follows charges that

were laid against the bank way back in March. There have been four, as far as I know, four cancelled hearings, but eventually

they sorted out the issues and the bank turned up, or lawyers for the bank turned up and it pleaded

guilty to those charges. And I mean, a fine leveled at a bank. I mean, is this a big deal? Is this

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