City of London Police have charged a former Lloyds TSB employee with corruption and theft after he allegedly helped criminal gangs set up fraudulent bank accounts.
Seevaratnam Sivathasan, 33, has been charged with 18 counts of corruption and three of theft against the bank's customers.
Sivathasan was an assistant manager in the Wandsworth high street branch of Lloyds TSB in London, in 2003 when the alleged offences took place. He is due to appear before City of London magistrates court in February.
The arrest is the latest in a two year investigation by City of London police into bank staff suspected of working with criminal gangs. Officers from the City of London Police Economic Crime Department have made more than 30 arrests as a result of the inquiry, which began in January 2004.
According to a report by British broadsheet the Daily Telegraph, as part of the investigation two staff from Barclays Bank have already pleaded guilty to "obtaining a pecuniary advantage" and were fined earlier this month.
In November the Financial Services Authority (FSA) repeated warnings that organised gangs of criminals are infiltrating British banks in order to carry out large-scale frauds.
The City regulator warned that criminals were applying for jobs in financial services firms in order to gain access to sensitive customer data and said there was evidence that organised crime groups deliberately placed agents inside banks to commit crime, particularly identity theft.