Finansinspektionen defends financial industry’s decision to sanction Trustly

Finansinspektionen defends financial industry’s decision to sanction Trustly

Finansinspektionen, Sweden’s financial supervisory authority, fined online payments company Trustly SEK130 million (£10.2 million/€12.2 million/$14.0 million) for violating the country’s anti-money laundering legislation. 

Sanction against Trustly 

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority said that it had fined Trustly for anti-money laundering violations. After conducting an investigation, the Authority determined that ClearOn had money laundering flaws and assessed an administrative fine.

Finansinspektionen conducted an inquiry and discovered that Trustly had violated the authority’s regulations and the Swedish Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (Anti-Money Laundering Act). Risk assessment, procedures and guidelines, customer due diligence, and monitoring and reporting were all identified as opportunities for improvement. Trustly was found to have violated the Anti-Money Laundering Act by failing to include a “significant number” of its clients in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing efforts.

Trustly Receives a Fine and a Warning in Sweden

Trustly had not conducted a risk assessment on these consumers, it claimed, nor had the payment provider taken them into account when developing its policies and processes. Additionally, these customers have been unmonitored. It was previously found to have breached Finansinspektionen’s own anti-money laundering regulations regarding transaction monitoring, and a number of the aforementioned Anti-Money Laundering Act infractions were also classified as violations of Finansinspektionen’s guidelines. Finansinspektionen stated that Trustly operated in an “industry connected with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist funding,” in which it worked as “nearly a hub” between banks and real-money casino operators.

Finansinspektionen determined that the authority’s own regulations and the Anti-Money Laundering Act should be prosecuted separately. It determined that the violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act were not as significant as violations of the authority’s own anti-money laundering standards, for which a warning is sufficient. However, it was fined SEK130 million and issued a warning for violating its regulations.

According to Erik Thedéen, the director-general of Finansinspektionen, Trustly’s position in the payment chain connecting the gaming business to a large number of banks enables the company to monitor flows that are not visible to other market participants. A gambling company that has selected fast and simple as its business model must be extremely rigorous in its anti-money laundering efforts. They have established that this was not the case during our investigation.

The fine came only days after Trustly announced 120 job cuts as part of its restructuring efforts. It did not specify the number of layoffs that would affect its gaming sector. However, the majority of the affected employees are based in the company’s Stockholm office. A spokesman for Trustly told in that the company was “cutting structural complications” as it refocused its geographical reach and product offerings.

About the Company 

Trustly, founded in 2008, is a market leader in online banking payments. Our digital account-to-account technology revolutionizes the speed, convenience, and security of payments by connecting consumers directly to some of the world’s most popular businesses via their online banking accounts. Trustly can manage the complete payment journey, which differentiates us from the competition and enables us to offer a more affordable alternative to established card networks. Today, we serve 8,100 merchants by linking them to 525 million consumers and 6,300 banks in over 30 countries; and by 2020, our worldwide network will have processed more than $21 billion in transaction volume. Trustly is a Payment Institution accredited under the second payment services directive (PSD2) and is regulated in Europe by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. In the United States, they are controlled by the state to the extent necessary to serve designated markets.

About Lou De Aguila

Lou Aguila is a news and feature writer for Golden Casino News. For over a decade, Lou has published news and featured articles for some of the most reputable sports betting and online casino sites in the world, including BetNow.UK, VegasOdds, and BWin. Apart from being a hardcore live casino punter, he also covers sports stories in North American leagues from time to time.