The Cayman Island Monetary Authority (Cima) has imposed discretionary fines of CI$4.23m (£3.66m, $5.16m, €4.24m) on the corporate services arm of global financial services firm Intertrust for breaches of the island’s anti-money laundering regulations.
It is the largest ever penalty handed down by the financial regulator for AML failings and was the result of Intertrust’s “pervasive and protracted history of non-compliance with the requirements of AML regulations”.
The fines follow an onsite inspection carried out by Cima, which found breaches of customer due diligence, lack of fund source verification, failure to identify beneficial owners, failure to obtain documentation on nature of business relationships as well as perform ongoing monitoring.
Cima said: “The authority is committed to enhancing the Cayman Islands’ AML regime and through its on-site, off-site and other monitoring processes, it will continue to exercise vigilance in that regard.
“We will also continue to treat breaches of the jurisdiction’s AML regulations or regulatory acts with particular seriousness and take the appropriate enforcement or other actions where necessary.”
Intertrust said in a statement: “We are fully committed to ensuring Intertrust Group and its clients maintain the highest standards of compliance with the Cayman Islands’ stringent regulatory framework.
“The penalty notice has been levied with regards to specific and historic administrative processes. We have initiated a formal remediation process and will continue to work closely with Cima and other stakeholders to ensure the situation is fully resolved.”
