Cypriot regulator CySEC issued two announcements to inform the investment public of its decisions to impose administrative fines on two Cyprus Investment Firms for similar offences pertaining to the implementation of the 2007 law on combating the legalization of proceeds from illegal activities and of the directive DΙ144-2007-08 of 2012 of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
The two companies which received the fines are Regency Asset Management (Cyprus) Limited or RAM Cyprus, holder of CIF License 089/08 since 22 May 2008 and SIB (CYPRUS) LIMITED , holder of CIF License 066/06 since 15 June 2006. More specifically Regency was fined with a total of €18.000 following deficiencies detected during an on-site spot check carried out by CySEC in April 2013, while SIB was fined with a total of €10.000, during a similar check in July 2013.
The fines imposed on both companies specifically pertained to the unsatisfactory systems and procedures applied in relation to determining the identity of clients and for inadequacies in the performance of the duties of the companies’ compliance officers.
The relatively low level of the administrative fines imposed by the board of CySEC is justified in the two announcements with the reference to the mitigating factors that were taken into taken, which included the fact that both companies had not committed similar offences or breaches in the past, as well as the fact that they have both already taken corrective measures in order to comply with the provisions of both the relevant Law and the CySEC Directive.
