Transact fined £3.5m for client money breaches

The FSA has fined Integrated Financial Arrangements plc, which offers the Transact platform, £3.5m for failings in relation to its protection of client money over an eight-and-a-half year period.

The FSA visited Integrated Financial in May 2010 and found that, although it had segregated client money from its own money upon receipt, it had failed to comply with client money rules between 1 December 2001 and 30 June 2010. Specifically, Integrated did not perform any client money calculations between 2001 and 2010 and, as a result, failed to identify or fund any shortfalls in its client money bank accounts. This meant that money belonging to one client was used to cross fund other clients and resulted in clients' money being at risk if Integrated Financial became insolvent. Th...