By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has imposed financial penalties on four non bank financial institutions for non-compliance with the provisions of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 6 of 2006 (FTRA).
According to a CBSL statement, fines amounting to Rs. 1.7 million were collected rom 01 April 2023 to 26 September 2023 to enforce compliance on Financial Institutions. The money collected as penalties were credited to the Consolidated Fund.
The administrative penalties were imposed for failure to adhere to FTRA in relation to reporting of financial transactions.
Imposition/ Collection of Administrative Penalties by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to Enforce Compliance on Financial Institutions from 01 April 2023 to 26September 2023.
By virtue of the powers vested under Section 19 (1) read together with section 19 (2) of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 6 of 2006 (FTRA), financial penalties are imposed on Institutions for non-compliance with the provisions of the FTRA.
The penalty may be prescribed taking into consideration the nature and gravity of relevant non-compliance of the Financial Institution.
Accordingly, as Sri Lanka’s regulator for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), the FIU collected penalties as indicated below, amounting to Rs. 1.7 million in total.
Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC has been fined Rs300,000 for failing to comply with Section 6 of FTRA by not reporting pawning auction transactions exceeding Rupees One Million (Rs. 1,000,000.00).
Vallibel Finance PLC had failed to adhere to Section 6 of the FTRA by not reporting transactions.
It has been fined Rs 200,000 for the granting of gold loan facilities exceeding one million rupees (Rs.1, 000,000.00).
LB Finance PLC had failed to comply with Section 6 of FTRA by not reporting pawning auction transactions exceeding Rupees One Million (Rs. 1,000,000.00) conducted as bulk transactions [consisting of the sum of many individual transactions] or as single transactions.
People’s Leasing & Finance PLC has been fined a sum of Rs 500,000.00 (Rupees five hundred thousand) for the failure to comply with Section 6 of FTRA by not reporting electronic fund transfer relating to opening of a fixed deposit exceeding Rupees One Million (Rs.1,000,000.00).
