(Alliance News) - Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority on Tuesday said it fined a subsidiary of Wise PLC, Wise Nuqud Ltd, for failing to comply with anti-money laundering requirements.
Wise is a London-based company offering international money transfers, rebranded from TransferWise Ltd.
The authority said it issued a fine of USD360,000, as Wise did not dispute the findings, lowered from a potential fine of USD450,000 if it had disputed them.
"The FSRA found that Wise did not establish and maintain adequate anti-money laundering systems and controls to ensure full compliance with its AML obligations," the authority explained. It added that Wise Nuqud did not identify or verify its source of funds, source of wealth, nor obtain approval of senior management to establish business relationships with customers it had identified as high risk.
It said that Wise Nuqud only carried out source of funds and source of wealth checks on customers when their account met a "specified payment threshold" and "after it had already established a business relationship with those customers".
Further, the FSRA said Wise Nuqud did not consider the nationality of customers as part of its risk-based assessment of its customers and did not "obtain and consider adequate information on the intended nature of business for a category of its customers, in that Wise did not identify and assess the expected volume of business for those customers as part of the customer risk assessment and customer due diligence it performed before establishing a business relationship with the customer."
FSRA Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Givanakis commented: "The FSRA is committed to ensuring that all regulated entities maintain high standards to address money laundering risks and, where appropriate, the FSRA will take strong action to ensure firms comply fully with the anti-money laundering requirements in Abu Dhabi Global Market."
Neither Wise nor its subsidiary issued a press release regarding the fine.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Wise responded to the news agency saying that neither Wise nor the FRSA reported instances of money laundering or other financial crimes, emphasising that the breaches were on Wise failing to identify and verify sources of funds or wealth held by some customers.
Wise shares were 2.1% higher at 495.60 pence each in London on Wednesday at midday. However the stock has halved in value over the past 12 months.
By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com
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