Mortgage broker partners fined over financial crime failures

THREE partners at a Sheffield mortgage broker have been fined for failures which led to the business being used for financial crime.

The Financial Services Authority said Paul Armitage, Huw Evans and Brian Smith of Pace Financial Management failed to have appropriate systems and controls in place.

Mr Armitage and Mr Evans were fined 17,500 each while Mr Smith was fined 14,000.

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The FSA said a fourth partner, who has since left the firm, carried out financial crime with a mortgage adviser working for Pace, who then went on to work for a Derby-based business called Belmont.

The watchdog said Belmont would have faced a fine for system and control failures, but this was not imposed because of the financial state of the firm.

The mortgage adviser was convicted of 15 fraud-related offences in March.

Margaret Cole, of the FSA, said: "By lacking the essential systems and controls to meet the FSA's standards, Pace put itself at risk of financial crime, and this was taken advantage of by two dishonest and unscrupulous employees.

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"The Belmont case illustrates the importance of stringent vetting procedures.

"The financial industry depends upon honesty and integrity, and these cases underline the importance of approved persons within the FSA's regime conducting their affairs appropriately, to protect their firms and their customers from similar situations."

Mr Armitage said: "We worked closely with the police for two years on this case. We decided not to appeal against the fines and we have paid them."

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