Directors of Kingston Management (Guernsey) Limited (in administration) (2010-05-25)

Summary

This is a public enforcement statement issued by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) naming three former directors of Kingston Management (Guernsey) Limited, a fiduciary licensee now in administration. The Commission imposed financial penalties on the directors for failing to ensure the business met its obligations under the Fiduciary Law, the Criminal Justice (Proceeds of Crime) Regulations 2007, and the Handbook for Financial Services Businesses on Countering Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing.

• Penalties: Financial penalties of £14,000 each on two directors (Mr Y and Mr Z) and £7,000 on a third (Mr X) under section 11D of the Financial Services Commission Law.
• Basis: The directors failed to ensure the fiduciary business exercised adequate control over and held adequate information on trusts and companies, conducted risk assessments before forming business relationships, performed customer due diligence on beneficiaries and beneficial owners, verified beneficial owner identity, conducted due diligence on donees of powers of attorney, carried out enhanced due diligence, and performed ongoing monitoring of relationships.
• Kingston itself: No sanction was imposed on Kingston Management (Guernsey) Limited itself because it was already in administration and intended to surrender its fiduciary licence.
• Later alteration: The statement notes that on 7 January 2022, 28 February 2022 and 11 October 2022 the Commission exercised powers under section 135 of the Financial Services Business (Enforcement Powers) Law 2020 to alter this public statement.

This is a historical, entity-specific enforcement notice rather than a rule of general application; it does not itself create new ongoing compliance obligations for other licensees, though it illustrates the Commission's expectations under existing fiduciary and AML/CFT requirements.

Key obligations

• Directors and licensed fiduciaries must exercise adequate control over, and hold adequate information on, trusts and companies under management, as required under paragraph 5(3)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Fiduciary Law
• Fiduciary businesses must undertake a risk assessment before forming a business relationship, as required by Regulation 3(1)(c)
• Fiduciary businesses must undertake customer due diligence on beneficiaries of structures receiving regulated fiduciary services, as required by Regulation 4(1)(3)
• Fiduciary businesses must verify the identity of beneficial owners of a company, as required by Rule 106 of the Handbook
• Fiduciary businesses must undertake customer due diligence on donees of powers of attorney, as required by Rule 112 of the Handbook
• Fiduciary businesses must carry out enhanced customer due diligence on beneficial owners, as required by Regulation 7(1)
• Fiduciary businesses must perform ongoing and effective monitoring of business relationships, as required by Regulations 11(1)(a) and (b)

Applies to

fiduciary licensees, company directors, trust and administration businesses