Civil Penalty - Estera Services (Bermuda) Limited (2019-06-14)

Summary

This is a Bermuda Monetary Authority press release announcing that it has imposed civil penalties totalling $500,000 on Estera Services (Bermuda) Limited, a licensed trust business, under sections 29A and 33B of the Trusts (Regulation of Trust Business) Act 2001.

The penalties relate to the Company's failure to adequately remediate, within a timeframe set by the Authority, deficiencies in its AML/ATF programme identified during a 2016 on-site inspection. The deficiencies concerned Customer Due Diligence, Enhanced Due Diligence, internal controls, and risk assessment under the Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008.

• Nature of breach: Historic, pre-acquisition deficiencies in AML/ATF policies and procedures identified during a late 2016 on-site inspection
• Remediation deadline: The Authority required deficiencies to be rectified by 31 December 2017, but remediation was not completed within that timeframe
• Mitigating factors considered: Legacy nature of the issues, the Company's full cooperation, its agreement to continue implementing enhanced controls, and the cost and improvement of new controls implemented during 2017

The notice is a public enforcement announcement rather than a rule change; it serves as a reminder to trust business licensees of the importance of maintaining up-to-date, effective AML/ATF policies and of remediating Authority findings within reasonable timeframes.

Applies to

trust companies, trust business licensees

Deadlines

• 31 December 2017: Deadline set by the Authority for Estera Services (Bermuda) Limited to rectify identified AML/ATF programme deficiencies; this deadline was not met