The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has fined Lion Brokers Limited a total of CI$261,990.72 for anti-money laundering violations.
In an 18 Feb. enforcement notice, the regulator said the discretionary fines related to the broker’s failure to comply with Cayman’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.
Lion Brokers had not applied enhanced customer due diligence measures, failed to conduct adequate risk assessments and failed to conduct and document all appropriate sanctions checks, according to CIMA.
On its website, Lion Brokers states the NASDAQ-listed Lion Financial Group was founded in 2015 and is headquartered both in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The group’s Cayman Islands’ subsidiary, Lion Brokers Limited, received its licence from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority in September 2018.
Lion Brokers says it provides global trading services in securities, futures and derivatives and is regulated by CIMA in Cayman and holds a capital market services licence in Singapore.
The Monetary Authority said the AML failings were discovered in onsite inspections.
The regulator said it will continue to treat breaches of Cayman’s anti-money laundering regulations “with particular seriousness”.
Cayman is currently grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force for its anti-money laundering shortcomings. To be removed from the list of jurisdictions that are under enhanced monitoring by the AML standard-setter, the Cayman Islands will, among other things, need to demonstrate that AML violations are adequately sanctioned.
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