Ananova:

The Swiss bank UBS has been fined £8m by Britain's City watchdog for failing to stop workers making unauthorised transactions.

The Financial Services Watchdog said four former employees carried out transactions using customers' money on at least 39 accounts.

An internal UBS investigation found that as many as 50 unauthorised transactions a day were taking place at the operation's peak, the FSA said

The UBS has paid more than £25m to compensate customers for losses, the FSA added.

The watchdog criticised UBS for systems failures and for failing to act on warnings that the checks were not working.

"These employees were able to take advantage of UBS's inadequate systems and controls, giving them free rein to make unauthorised trades with customer money that they were then able to conceal," said Margaret Cole, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime.

UBS agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation, qualifying for a 20% discount, without which the fine would have hit £10m.

The bank has been hit by controversy in recent months.

Earlier this year it was accused of helping Americans evade US taxes by opening accounts in Switzerland.