Glitnor Group Fined in Malta over AML and KYC Breaches

A week after Malta’s Gaming Authority confirmed the cancellation of MKC Limited’s license, the island nation’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) slapped Glitnor Group, an iGaming business group, with a fine. The financial penalty followed serious breaches on the company’s side.

Glitnor Group, which is based in Malta, had its Glitnor Services B2C division probed by the FIAU in 2019. The unit uncovered serious breaches showing that the company failed to verify the sources of income of many players.

Since the operator did not check the income sources of a number of players, it effectively breached the local AML and social responsibility rules. In Malta, operators have to provide assessment reports when a transfer exceeds €2,000.

For example, a single client deposited thousands of euros through dozens of transactions within nine days, without prompting a response from Glitnor. Another client deposited almost tens of thousands of euros in 13 months, without Glitnor ever intervening or checking the source of the player’s funds.

Even more concerningly, Glitnor allowed a non-EU resident to play by not properly checking the source of their funds. The client used pre-paid cards to wager with the company, which ignored the case.

Glitnor Group Received a $261,000 Fine

In addition, Glitnor did not obtain the identity and residence proofs of three of its clients within a 30-day period, further violating the local rules. While the FIAU agreed that this was not a systematic issue, it concluded that it is a serious violation nevertheless.

Glitnor was also legally required to check if its players are politically exposed persons. However, the FIAU found out that the operator failed to do so in a whopping 80% of the cases.

Overall, the FIAU concluded that Glitnor’s customer risk assessment efforts were deficient. While the unit acknowledged the company’s high degree of cooperation and willingness to improve its protocols, the shortcomings were too serious to ignore.

As a result, the FIAU handed a $261,000 fine (converted to USD) to the operator. Despite the fine, the unit praised the operator for quickly starting a remediation process.

In unrelated news, Glitnor Group recently welcomed the experienced Richard Brown as its new chief executive officer. Boasting more than ten years of experience in the industry, Brown will spearhead Glitnor’s growth.