The Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania recently conducted a targeted onsite inspection of UAB ConnectPay, an electronic money institution. This inspection has revealed several breaches of the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. As a result, the Bank of Lithuania has imposed a fine of €110,000 (over $124,200) on the institution. It has also asked the institution to promptly address all the violations.
As per the investigation, there were some cases where UAB ConnectPay did not employ the required customer identification measures and the KYC information was incomplete when available. It also failed to install an appropriate procedure to identify politically exposed persons. Overall, it did not assess the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with its customers. Other violations pertained to the institution’s deficient internal controls to ensure the implementation of international financial sanctions.
UAB ConnectPay has since informed the Bank of Lithuania of the measures it has taken to improve its AML policy. It has already hired more AML specialists and is currently looking to employ better technological solutions.