The FMA, which filed proceedings in June last year, sought a global penalty of $1.2m for all four breaches, court documents read, while CLSAP NZ argued $420,000 was appropriate. During the relevant period, CLSAP NZ had a business relationship with between 21,000 and 37,000 customers each year, court documents state. Two CLSAP NZ compliance officers also resigned over due to disagreements with company directors, with one director saying a "bendier" compliance officer was required. And when one customer refused to provide information sought, CLSAP NZ was willing to accept inadequate information, including objectively suspicious information, to retain business. The directors of CLSAP NZ during the relevant times were Rongjun (June) Zhang, Songyuan Huang (Benny Wong), Stefan Liu, Robert Manwarring Noakes and Richard Clive Pearson.

Source: New Zealand Herald September 12, 2021 23:37 UTC