Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority announced that it had fined Trustly for anti-money laundering violations. After investigation, the Authority found that ClearOn had shortcomings related to money laundering and imposed an administrative fine.

Trustly receives a fine and a warning in Sweden

Finansinspektionenthe Financial Supervisory Authority of Sweden announced on Tuesday that he imposed an administrative fine on Trustly, the leader in digital account-to-account payments. After carrying out an investigation, the Autorité found that the company failed to comply with key elements of anti-money laundering rules. He said Trustly had gaps in risk assessment, client risk assessment, and client due diligence procedures and guidelines. In addition, Finansinspektionen stated that the company had shortcomings related to the customer follow-up.

“The shortcomings, which are serious, were found in Trustly’s largest line of business, the gambling industry, which is associated with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. Trustly therefore receives a warning and must pay an administrative fine of SEK 130 million.”

Finansinspektionen

The financial regulator pointed out that Trustly had failed to “correctly identify who is a client of the firm, as required by the Anti-money laundering law.” The Authority explained that the company excluded many of its customers of its efforts against terrorist financing and money laundering. Recognizing that the violations are serious, the Authority warned Trustly and issued an administrative fine of SEK 130 million ($14 million). Furthermore, Finansinspektionen stated that the the gambling industry as a business is “associated with a high risk of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Financial regulator imposes fines on ClearOn

Besides Trustly, the Authority said the payment services company ClearOn also violates anti-money laundering rules. Like Trustly, ClearOn had deficiencies related to its customer risk assessment, risk assessment, guidelines and customer due diligence procedures.

“It is very serious that ClearOn, which handles large sums of cash, has not taken strong measures to prevent the company from being used for money laundering.

Erik Thedéen, managing director of Finansinspektionen

The regulator also said that ClearOn “has not taken sufficient measures to be able to manage the risk of money laundering that these business relationships impose on the company. As a result of these breaches, ClearOn received a warning and an administrative fine of SEK 14 million ($1.5 million) fine of the authority.

Erik Thedeanthe chief executive of the Authority, pointed out that Trustly has chosen to operate in the gaming industry and that it must put in place strict rules to prevent money laundering. On the other hand, he acknowledged that offenders use cash, which makes their transactions difficult to trace. Thedéen explained that given the amounts of cash handled by ClearOn, the company must take stricter measures to prevent money laundering.