Trident Trust Company (Guernsey) Limited and Mr Mark Wilson Le Tissier, Mr Ryan Daniel Dekker and Mrs Boonyasinee ("Kwan") Queripel (2024-07-08)

Summary

This is a public enforcement statement issued by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission against Trident Trust Company (Guernsey) Limited and three former senior staff members (Mr Le Tissier, Mr Dekker and Mrs Queripel) for serious and sustained AML/CFT failures relating to a private yacht marine business operated through incorporated cell companies. The Commission found systemic breaches of customer due diligence, source of funds/wealth checks, ongoing monitoring, sanctions screening and record-keeping requirements over roughly an eight-year period, and imposed financial penalties and prohibition orders as a result.

• Financial penalties: £266,000 on the Licensee, £63,000 on Mr Le Tissier, £63,000 on Mr Dekker, and £39,900 on Mrs Queripel under section 39 of the Enforcement Powers Law.
• Prohibition orders: Mr Le Tissier and Mr Dekker are prohibited from holding a supervised role for 2 years 10 months; Mrs Queripel for 1 year 9 months, under section 33 of the Enforcement Powers Law.
• Exemption disapplication: Notices issued under section 32 disapplying the exemption in section 3(1)(g) of the Fiduciaries Law for each individual for the same respective periods as their prohibition orders.
• Key findings: Failure to document and regularly review a suitable business risk assessment, failure to carry out adequate customer due diligence and identify UBOs (37 remained unidentified after October 2019), failure to establish source of funds/wealth for high-risk relationships, failure to monitor business relationships, failure to apply sanctions controls, failure to notify the Commission of known deficiencies, and provision of inaccurate information to the Firm's bankers about source of funds.
• Licensee status: The Commission is satisfied the Licensee can continue operating under its full fiduciary licence, having undertaken a significant remediation programme since 2021.

The statement is informational and enforcement-focused rather than rule-making: it records sanctions already decided on 19 June 2024 and publicises the underlying findings as a warning to other fiduciary licensees about AML/CFT compliance expectations, particularly regarding beneficial ownership identification and source of funds verification in complex corporate structures.

Key obligations

• The Licensee must pay a financial penalty of £266,000 to the Commission.
• Mr Le Tissier must pay a financial penalty of £63,000 and is prohibited from holding a supervised role for 2 years 10 months.
• Mr Dekker must pay a financial penalty of £63,000 and is prohibited from holding a supervised role for 2 years 10 months.
• Mrs Queripel must pay a financial penalty of £39,900 and is prohibited from holding a supervised role for 1 year 9 months.
• Mr Le Tissier, Mr Dekker and Mrs Queripel are each barred from relying on the exemption in section 3(1)(g) of the Fiduciaries Law for their respective prohibition periods.
• Licensees generally are reminded of their obligation to notify the Commission of any material failure to comply with Schedule 3, the Handbook, or serious breaches of internal policies, procedures or controls.

Applies to

fiduciary licensees, corporate services providers, trust and company service providers, money laundering reporting officers, money laundering compliance officers, directors and managing directors of licensed fiduciary firms