Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Fine for insufficient precautions agains money-laundering

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported that it has fined Sindicatum Holdings Limited (SHL) GBP 49,000 and its Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) 17,500 for not having adequate anti-money laundering systems and controls in place for verifying and recording client's identities. This is the first case where the FSA has fined not only a company but also an MLRO personally. 

Even though there have been no indications of actual money-laundering at SLH the FSA clearly wanted to use this case to set an example and demonstrate the importance of the subject. It is worth noticing that the FSA also said that the amount of the fine was reached in view of the limited financial means of the company. In other cases the fines could very well be much higher.

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