The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has formally warned Pencarrow Private Equity Management for breaching record-keeping requirements under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act.
The FMA’s investigation found Pencarrow had “systemic failings” in its retention of identity and verification records for customers who’d invested in its Fund V, between April and July 2018.
The failures also meant Pencarrow was unable to provide records to establish whether it had undertaken sufficient enhanced customer due diligence for six of the sampled customer files.
The FMA said while the risk of money laundering was low with the customers involved, “Pencarrow failed to take its compliance obligations seriously at the time”.
The issues were discovered as part of the FMA’s routine monitoring for AML/CFT compliance. The FMA’s head of enforcement Margot Gatland said robust and readily accessible records were essential for an entity to fulfil AML/CFT requirements, as firms need to continually monitor their customer base to identify any inconsistencies and report any suspicious activities.