Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has announced that it has decided to impose a total administrative fine of €30,000 to the company Plum Money CY Limited, which operates the Plum savings and investing app for EU clients (website withplum.com), for violation of articles of the Regulation (ΕU) 2019/2033 on the prudential requirements of investment firms.
Particularly, CySEC imposed to the Company:
1. An administrative fine of €8,000 for violation of Article 9(1) of the Regulation, as the Company, on 31 December 2023, did not have own funds consisting of the sum of its Common Equity Tier 1 capital, Additional Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital, and which meet, at all times, all the conditions set out in this article.
2. An administrative fine of €8,000 for violation of Article 11(1) of the Regulation, as the Company did not have, at all times, and especially on 31 December 2023, own funds in accordance with Article 9, which amount to at least D, as this is defined in the Article 11(2) of the Regulation.
3. An administrative fine of €8,000 for violation of Article 43(1) of the Regulation, as the Company did not hold an amount of liquid assets equivalent to at least one third of the fixed overhead requirement calculated in accordance with Article 13(1) of the Regulation.
4. An administrative fine of €6,000 for violation of Article 54(1) of the Regulation, as specified further in articles 1(1)(b) and (2)(1)(b) of the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2284, as the Company did not submit to CySEC the annual report for 31 December 2023, via Form 165-02, including all of the information set out in this section, by close of business of the remittance date, the 11th of February 2024.
In order to determine the amount of the total administrative fine, CySEC said it took into account:
- The seriousness that the legislator attaches to violations of this kind, which is reflected by the administrative sanctions and measures provided for in the article 50(3) of the Law on Preventive Supervision of Investments.
- The importance attached to ensuring that the persons subject to supervision of the CySEC fully comply with the provisions of the Regulation.
- The importance given to:
- in the application of appropriate policies and procedures by a CIF to its compliance with its statutory obligations is adequately ensured, and
- in the implementation of the prudential supervision framework to adequately ensure that a CIF operates on a solid financial basis and is methodically managed way, to optimally serve the interests of its customers.
- The financial strength of the Company.
- That the Company did not comply with its obligation to submit the annual report of its report for December 31, 2023, until the date of consideration of the matter by the regulator.
- That the Company has not committed a similar offense in the past.
