Two finance companies fined Rs.1.5 mln for violating Central Bank rules

Two finance companies have been filed a total of Rs.1.5 million by the Central Bank (CB) for violating anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations imposed by the banking regulator (CB). The fines were imposed in September 2021.

The CB in a statement on Wednesday June 29 said Orient Finance PLC was imposed a fine of Rs.1 million on September 14, 2021 while on the same day Lanka Credit and Business Finance Ltd as imposed a fine of Rs.500,000. The CB didn’t give any explanation for the late announcement of these fines imposed in September 2021.

Sri Lanka’s regulator for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) collected the above penalties to enforce compliance on financial institutions. The money collected as penalties were credited to the Consolidated Fund.

“The FIU observed during the on-site examination that Orient Finance PLC had failed to implement systems and procedures to maintain the complete list of designated persons and entities under relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions  (UNSCRs), screen its prospective customers at the time of onboarding as required by the CDD Rules and to screen the existing customer base or existing business relationships when any of the relevant UNSCR lists were updated in order to ensure that no business relationship was held by or linked to any of the entities or individuals included in the updated designated lists,” the statement said.

The FIU gave the same reason for fining Lanka Credit and Business Finance Ltd.