The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has fined Triton Capital Markets Limited €226,902, due to irregularities found during an onsite compliance review in 2019. The review found the company in breach of anti-money laundering rules.
Triton Capital Markets Limited is an investment services company formerly known as FXDD Malta Limited.
The FIAU had asked the company to provide a number of documents, including the business risk assessment (BRA). However the company had informed the FIAU that the BRA was still being drafted and in its final stages, since it engaged a third party to create it. As a result it was unable to produce it.
It was also noticed that the company failed to take necessary steps to assess the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing which could occur as a result of its operations, and to adequately document them.
According to the files analysed by the FIAU, there was also an absence of customer risk assessments, with the FIAU noting that the approach used by the investment services firm was not rigorous and comprehensive enough, and therefore unable to effectively apply a risk-based approach.
It also failed to certify customer due diligence documentation. The company was found to have either failed to verify the identity of its customers, their residential address, or failed to obtain dated certification.
The company was also lambasted for its failure to use measures to identify politically exposed persons (PEPs).
The FIAU had informed the company that it will be following-up, to ensure that the company’s anti-money laundering safeguards have been enhanced, so that it is fully compliant with its legal obligations.
The company is also tasked with drawing up an actional plan indicating the actions it has carried out and implemented since the compliance exam, and which actions it will take to ensure compliance, following the breaches identified.
The notice was published despite the company trying to prohibit its publication, after Courts turned down their attempt.
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