Stockbroker Campbell O’Connor and Co has been fined €280,000 by the Central Bank for failing to comply with its requirements in respect of money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

The bank’s investigation found that, between July 2010 and November 2016, Campbell O’Connor failed:

• to conduct an appropriate money laundering/terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk assessment
• to adopt adequate policies and procedures for preventing and detecting ML/TF
• to monitor and scrutinise customer transactions
• to provide training to staff on identifying suspicious transactions
• to ensure that all necessary arrangements were in place with third parties it relied on to conduct customer due diligence measures on its customers.

The bank determined that the appropriate fine for these breaches of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 was €400,000, but allowed a 30% discount. 

Campbell O’Connor admitted the breaches, and the bank said it had since rectified the failings in compliance.

Director of enforcement Seána Cunningham said: “This is the first enforcement action taken against a stockbroker for breaches of the CJA 2010, and is a timely reminder to the wider financial services sector that AML/CFT compliance is and will remain a key priority for the Central Bank.

In Association with

“The investigation found that for a period of more than six years the firm’s AML/CFT framework was not fit for purpose. The investigation found that the firm failed to assess key ML/TF risks facing its business. For example, the firm failed to undertake any assessment of terrorist financing risk at all. In the absence of a business-wide risk assessment, the firm did not implement effective policies and procedures to prevent and detect ML/TF.

“The firm failed to monitor and scrutinise customer transactions and failed to provide training to staff in relation to identifying suspicious transactions. It placed too much reliance on personal knowledge of its customers in assessing ML/TF risk and failed to adopt the necessary policies and procedures to enable it to appropriately identify, assess and manage these risks.”

Campbell O’Connor, founded in 1960, is regulated by the Central Bank as an investment firm.