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An investment services company has been fined nearly €227,000 by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) over non-observance of anti-money laundering rules.
Triton Capital Markets Limited (previously FXDD Malta Limited) was fined after irregularities were found during an onsite compliance review in 2019.
In its report, the unit said it had asked the company to provide a number of documents, including a business risk assessment, which it never produced.
The company told the FIAU that the assessment was still a draft in its “final stages” since it had engaged a third party to assist in its formulation.
The FIAU observed that the investment services company failed to take appropriate steps to assess the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing arising from its operations and to adequately document such assessments.
The company was also found to have missing customer risk assessments, with the FIAU saying the approach adopted was not rigorous and comprehensive enough to enable it to understand the risks posed by customers and to effectively apply the risk-based approach.
The FIAU said the company had failed to certify customer due diligence documentation. In three files it analysed, it found that the company had either failed to verify the identity or residential address of the individuals involved or the certification was not dated.
The company was reprimanded over its failure to use identification measures for politically exposed persons.
After noting these breaches, the FIAU issued a fine of €226,902.
It also informed the company of a follow-up visit to ensure that it enhances its anti-money laundering safeguards and that it becomes fully compliant with its obligations.
The company must now draw up an action plan indicating the remedial actions that it has carried out and implemented since the compliance examination, together with remedial actions which are expected to be carried out to ensure compliance following the identified breaches.
Triton reacts
In a statement late on Thursday, Triton Capital Markets Ltd said on December 7 the FIAU had served its final decision on a compliance review conducted in March of 2019, imposing a fine on the company for “alleged” breaches.
TCM advised stakeholders that all alleged breaches were of an administrative nature. It said it will be challenging the decision “in the strongest manner possible and through all legal channels available”.
TCM remained committed to exercising the “strictest adherence to all regulatory obligations and guidelines so as to ensure that it remains fully compliant at all times and this without the least exception”.
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