Three estate agents based in London, Northamptonshire and Cardiff have been fined a total of £246,665 by the OFT, for failing to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.
Hastings International UK, an estate agent, with two offices in south London, was fined £47,966.
Jackson Grundy operates its estate agency business from ten branches and was fined £169,652. The company’s head office is in Duston, Northampton.
Cardiff-based Jeffrey Ross had two premises in the city during the OFT investigation period and was fined £29,000.
The failures in all three cases were significant and widespread, said the OFT, and include:
- Failures to apply adequate customer due diligence measures when carrying out estate agency work.
- Failures to conduct ongoing monitoring of business relationships.
- Failures to establish and maintain appropriate policies and procedures on adequate record-keeping, internal controls or risk assessments.
- Failures to train relevant employees in how to recognise and deal with transactions and other activities which may be related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
Kate Pitt, OFT deputy director of anti-money aundering, said: “The Money Laundering Regulations are designed to detect, deter and disrupt financial crime. We fined these three estate agents as they were failing to comply fully with the regulations, and so were more vulnerable to money laundering or terrorist financing activity.”
Hastings International and Jackson Grundy were fined by the OFT on March 26, and have until April 24 to appeal. The Cardiff agent was fined on March 19 and has until April 17 to appeal.
This is likely to be the last action the OFT takes against estate agents. On Monday, the OFT’s anti-money laundering powers and responsibilities pass to HMRC, while the OFT’s regulatory duty regarding agents transfers to Powys County Council.
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