Two-tier fear?

[The Phantom]

On 9/14/2024 at 5:37 PM, Sceptic said:

An absolutely perfect example. Fined £120,000 (reduced from £170,000) for some relatively minor procedural matters. While a load of Chinese fraudsters destroy the IOMs global reputation and the GSC do absolutely bugger all. Who would want to be a local person associated with a local financial services business when they are clearly just targets for naming, shaming and fining as they are viewed as legacy Isle of Man collateral damage to make the regulators look good.

Three years ago Capital International were the poster boys for the FSAs alternative banking licensing that nobody else was interested in. They invested heavily despite it taking them almost three years to get a license and them losing a fortune funding it in the meantime. Then they get a public kick in the balls. They might as well have just stolen client money via a fake e-gaming business and walked away with a slap on the wrist by the GSC.

Capital used to be relatively painless to open up an account.

I just received their new application forms which are at least double the size and significantly more of a pain in the ass and surely must have been put in place as part of their 'remediation plan'. 

Thanks FSA! 

[Kopek]

Shirley that should be USA?

[Sceptic]

16 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Capital used to be relatively painless to open up an account.

I just received their new application forms which are at least double the size and significantly more of a pain in the ass and surely must have been put in place as part of their 'remediation plan'. 

Thanks FSA! 

Or the RBSI/IOM Bank who also got fined by the FSA who seem to now take a year to set up any new account and who also have absolutely no compunction about freezing your account because you’ve spent 15p that they arbitrarily think might be funding global terrorism. This Island’s financial sector is irretrievably screwed and it’s directly attributable to the way the FSA has been managing its “clients”. And yet at the same time the gaming industry is fraudster central with a free pass from government to do whatever it wants without risk of fine or sanction.

And not to mention the totally unregulated payroll sector of spivs and chancers making absolute millions off aggressive tax planning schemes that also destroy our international reputation. But that’s ok because they aren’t required to be regulated in the IOM; so you can make £10M a year offering umbrella services and issue fake loans to thousands of people and the regulator will do absolutely nothing. Categoric two-tier regulation that ignores the real issues. 

[The Phantom]

5 hours ago, Sceptic said:

Or the RBSI/IOM Bank who also got fined by the FSA who seem to now take a year to set up any new account and who also have absolutely no compunction about freezing your account because you’ve spent 15p that they arbitrarily think might be funding global terrorism. This Island’s financial sector is irretrievably screwed and it’s directly attributable to the way the FSA has been managing its “clients”. And yet at the same time the gaming industry is fraudster central with a free pass from government to do whatever it wants without risk of fine or sanction.

And not to mention the totally unregulated payroll sector of spivs and chancers making absolute millions off aggressive tax planning schemes that also destroy our international reputation. But that’s ok because they aren’t required to be regulated in the IOM; so you can make £10M a year offering umbrella services and issue fake loans to thousands of people and the regulator will do absolutely nothing. Categoric two-tier regulation that ignores the real issues. 

Correct on RBSI.  They used to be the default bankers for virtually every CSP on the Island.  Now I wouldn't use them under any circumstances.  I've also had clients with accounts with them for 30+ years that have been shut down without any explanation.  

I'm not sure the payroll stuff goes on nearly as much nowadays to be honest.  But yeah there were quite a few chancers with zero real financial skills, knowledge or qualifications making serious money off it up until about 5 years ago.   Now that really did ruin a lot of lives.  Some of the behaviour I've heard from Doug's Knox firms was truly horrendous. 

 

[RecklessAbandon]

To be fair, based off convos with someone at RBSI, the legal checks required for checking against "proscribed" persons/organisations is very strict, involving daily checks against NorKom and WorldCheck.

If your name turns up on one of those lists and RBSI has to freeze/close your account, that is a problem between you and NorKom/WorldCheck/international governments FCA departments

[The Phantom]

https://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-man-news/massive-jump-in-companies-removed-from-island-register/

Some of these will be a sweep out of defunct companies on the register that they've sat on for a while, however a significant portion will be because of how much of a pain in the ass it is to do business here now.

Thanks FSA. 

[The Phantom]

25 minutes ago, RecklessAbandon said:

To be fair, based off convos with someone at RBSI, the legal checks required for checking against "proscribed" persons/organisations is very strict, involving daily checks against NorKom and WorldCheck.

If your name turns up on one of those lists and RBSI has to freeze/close your account, that is a problem between you and NorKom/WorldCheck/international governments FCA departments

A lot of it is due to 'Country Risk' at RBSI.  Their high risk country list is something like 150 countries, yes the majority of the world and they add more regularly.

I've had clients living in Monaco or South Africa that have had accounts with them happily for 30 years without issue.  They've then added these countries to their list and then closed the accounts. 

[manxchester]

5 hours ago, The Phantom said:

A lot of it is due to 'Country Risk' at RBSI.  Their high risk country list is something like 150 countries, yes the majority of the world and they add more regularly.

I've had clients living in Monaco or South Africa that have had accounts with them happily for 30 years without issue.  They've then added these countries to their list and then closed the accounts. 

Yep, if you have had a sniff of business with Monaco or South Africa, account closed no questions asked or explanation asked for. God help a new company over here managing to get a bank account open anytime soon.

[Kopek]

Monaco? Is that because of Russian connections?

Surely there must be ways to satisfy a local bank> Cut your ties and present proof?

[Sceptic]

7 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Monaco or South Africa 

The same South Africa that the DfE roadshows are in every 5 minutes telling them all how open for business the IOM is when you can’t actually bank any of them in an IOM bank that isn’t already a subsidiary of an SA Bank! 

[Sceptic]

Surprise surprise are we seeing an acknowledgment here that the diplomatic immunity that the e-gaming sector appears to have had needs to change? 

https://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-man-news/egaming-firm-regulatory-failings-cost-it-140000/

So the company was inspected in June 2023 and the company’s license was terminated in September 2023. But it’s only been fined now after the furore over King Gaming and a year after its license was terminated and part of the fine was for failing to establish a clear process for retrieving records after its license was revoked.

https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/cyberhorizon-slapped-with-fine-by-gsc-for-aml-ctf-failures/

[The Phantom]

3 minutes ago, Sceptic said:

Surprise surprise are we seeing an acknowledgment here that the diplomatic immunity that the e-gaming sector appears to have had needs to change? 

https://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-man-news/egaming-firm-regulatory-failings-cost-it-140000/

So the company was inspected in June 2023 and the company’s license was terminated in September 2023. But it’s only been fined now after the furore over King Gaming and a year after its license was terminated and part of the fine was for failing to establish a clear process for retrieving records after its license was revoked.

https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/cyberhorizon-slapped-with-fine-by-gsc-for-aml-ctf-failures/

Too slow dude.  Already posted in the King Gaming Thread. 

[Sceptic]

13 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Too slow dude.  Already posted in the King Gaming Thread. 

Just seen that. It looks like our competitor Island is at least making a point. Would we ever see an article like this appear in the Manx press? It looks like Jersey has journalists who are prepared to get their hands dirty.

https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2024/10/03/is-the-jfsc-choking-the-golden-goose/

But over the course of several weeks, the Jersey Evening Post has investigated the JFSC, speaking to dozens of individuals who have encountered them as a regulator – and others who have worked on the inside. Most have painted a picture of an organisation that is at best remote and unaccountable, at worst evasive, opaque and vindictive. 

“They are a law unto themselves,” said one senior finance executive who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals.

That fear is a very real one within Jersey’s small and close-knit finance community, which employs over 15,000 people and contributes as much as 40% to the Island’s economy. With only a handful of exceptions, those who spoke to this newspaper demanded total anonymity and warned that the organisation had a proven willingness to silence those who criticised it. 

“If you want my advice it is to drop this. If you pursue them they will come after you,” one former finance executive told the JEP. “They will ruin your life like they ruined mine.”

 

[Beer Boy]

On 9/25/2024 at 9:47 PM, manxchester said:

Yep, if you have had a sniff of business with Monaco or South Africa, account closed no questions asked or explanation asked for. God help a new company over here managing to get a bank account open anytime soon.

I started a business in August, although the forms were extensive I got a capital account opened within a week. 

[The Phantom]

3 hours ago, Sceptic said:

Just seen that. It looks like our competitor Island is at least making a point. Would we ever see an article like this appear in the Manx press? It looks like Jersey has journalists who are prepared to get their hands dirty.

https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2024/10/03/is-the-jfsc-choking-the-golden-goose/

But over the course of several weeks, the Jersey Evening Post has investigated the JFSC, speaking to dozens of individuals who have encountered them as a regulator – and others who have worked on the inside. Most have painted a picture of an organisation that is at best remote and unaccountable, at worst evasive, opaque and vindictive. 

“They are a law unto themselves,” said one senior finance executive who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals.

That fear is a very real one within Jersey’s small and close-knit finance community, which employs over 15,000 people and contributes as much as 40% to the Island’s economy. With only a handful of exceptions, those who spoke to this newspaper demanded total anonymity and warned that the organisation had a proven willingness to silence those who criticised it. 

“If you want my advice it is to drop this. If you pursue them they will come after you,” one former finance executive told the JEP. “They will ruin your life like they ruined mine.”

 

Very interesting.  I suppose looking at the positives, we're not alone in dealing with a similar situation with our Kremlin (I'm going to start calling them that now).  

More interesting to note though is how Jersey appear to be fighting back against their Govt.  They forced out their Chief Minister earlier this year. Why can't we start doing this?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-68010439

3 hours ago, Beer Boy said:

I started a business in August, although the forms were extensive I got a capital account opened within a week. 

As in Capital International?  Yes they are pretty slick.  The reason they got their banking licence was because they saw a gap in the market due to how difficult it was becoming for IOM business to open accounts with the old guard banks.  They are specifically trying to be quick and easy to deal with.  

However, in a very timely coincidence to the link Sceptic posted, Capital were fined a few weeks ago by the FSA because of an absence of box ticking (i.e. not making life difficult enough for the plebs).