Aon fined £5.25 million for compliance failures
The financial services authority (FSA) has today levied the largest fine ever on a UK insurance company with news that Aon has been fined £5.25 million for having insufficient internal controls to stop over $7 million worth of suspicious payments being made to overseas firms and individuals. It is not clear as to whether these payments were actually illegal or fraudulent but the fact that the internal Aon systems were unable to flag and check the payments prior to them being sent is at the centre of the FSA concerns.
Now more than ever the UK financial industry is coming under severe attack from fraudsters and con artists trying to make money from the confusion and dismay in the UK financial markets. Despite the fact that the FSA carry out regular reviews of each and every member regulated by the authority it would appear that further issues have arisen regarding Aon in particular.
It has also come to light that by cooperating with the FSA's investigation between January 2005 and September 2007, Aon was able to negotiate a 30% reduction on the original fine. The severity of the eventual fine has shocked those inside and outside of the financial industry, as the FSA get tough.
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