FSA Fines Payroll Company £30k

A payroll company on the Isle of Man has been fined £33,850 by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.

An inspection of Income Plus Services Limited revealed multiple violations of anti-money laundering codes, leading the Authority to open an investigation.

As a result, the company is required to pay a civil penalty of £48,356, reduced by 30% to £33,850.

The reduction reflects Income Plus’ cooperation and early settlement with the Authority.

Fined

Income Plus was fined as it failed to create, record, and manage procedures related to its Business Risk Assessment (BRA) and Customer Risk Assessment (CRA), as well as customer screening and ongoing monitoring, including transaction monitoring, in line with AML/CFT legislation. 

The BRA did not address all risk factors and did not effectively assess the risks of money laundering or financial terrorism posed by the business and its customers. 

The FSA say that the CRA was inadequate and did not follow the required assessment process or consider necessary risk factors.

Lacked Proper Procedures

Income Plus lacked proper procedures for verifying the identity of new customers and establishing the source of funds for new clients. 

It found that there was no ongoing monitoring for sanctions or negative information for customers. 

Without establishing the source of funds, IPSL could not adequately assess if transactions matched customers’ expected funding sources or their business profiles.

It also did not have adequate measures to identify Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and did not conduct the necessary monitoring and testing for AML/CFT compliance, failing to produce required annual reports confirming adherence to legal obligations.