FSA fines money laundering compliance officer £17,500

by Gill Montia

Story link: FSA fines money laundering compliance officer £17,500

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued a £17,500 fine to the money laundering reporting officer of Sindicatum Holdings Limited.

The regulator handed down the penalty because the officer in question did not have adequate systems and controls in place for verifying and recording clients’ identities.

In addition, the FSA has fined Sindicatum Holdings £49,000 for failings at the firm, which include a lack of procedures for verifying the identity of its clients and the failure to adequately verify the identity of a significant number of clients.

The FSA’s head of retail enforcement, William Amos, describes the fines as a warning to firms and to individuals who fall short of the Authority’s rules in the area of money laundering.

Sindicatum is a corporate advisory firm based in London. Its customers are small and medium sized corporate clients in countries including Lithuania, Slovenia, Russia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the UK.

The case breaks new ground as it is the first time the FSA has fined an individual money laundering compliance officer, however, no evidence of money laundering came to light during the FSA’s investigations.