May 2020

EU Action Plan to fighting money-laundering is opposed by member states with laissez-fair regulatory regimes

EU plans to fight money-laundering The European Commission plans to establish tighter rules to enforce a unified regulatory approach among member states to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing. It has presented an ambitious Action Plan, which sets out concrete measures that will be taken over the next 12 months. The six pillars of the …

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Cybercrime and FinTechs – Israeli Scam Tourism and the Estonian Challenge to European Regulators and Law Enforcement

Estonia is a member of the EU. This means that Estonian companies and financial service providers have free access to the EU market in principle. However, like any EU member state, Estonia is also responsible for ensuring that Community directives are implemented and complied with and EU residents are protected. This also and above all …

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German BaFin issues cease and desist order against unauthorized payment processor P & B Modern Management

The German financial market supervision authority BaFin issued a cease and desist order against P & B Modern Management, a Berlin-based German company that accepts funds from private persons on its own accounts for the sole purpose of transferring these funds to mainly foreign accounts of companies based abroad. According to the German Regulator, the …

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Wirecard Troubles in Germany – Class actions against the company and auditor EY adding to BaFin investigations

Not surprisingly, the turbulent times do not seem to be coming to an end soon for Wirecard. Already 2019 was dominated by accusations of balance sheet manipulation, shabby business practices, and compliance issues which were raised primarily by the Financial Times. Founder and CEO Markus Braun has always strictly rejected the accusations. Wirecard filed lawsuits and criminal complaints against the critics.

Wirecard or why compliance is important

Following the KPMG special audit report that uncovered substantial issues with the company’s compliance procedures, the DAX-listed German FinTech Wirecard has announced to create a dedicated compliance department to monitor compliance with laws and regulations. The department is becoming a board department, which emphasises the importance of the issue.

Investor Warning – Infinitrade with Praxis Cashier and Crypto1 Payment Processors

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an investor warning against Infinitrade (www.infinitrage.com). According to the information on the scheme’s website, the unregulated broker is operated by A&E Products Ltd, a company registered on the Marshall Islands and with a company address in Sofia, Bulgaria. One of the typical scam patterns. The unregistered and …

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Investor Warning – Estonian Blix Group and Praxis Cashier

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an investor warning against the Blix Group (www.blix-group.com). According to the information on the website, the unregulated broker is operated by AlephLink Solutions Ltd OÜ (Companies Register) a company registered in Estonia. The company, in which Efthymios Marangos (born Sept 1989) is the only active director, has …

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