Sanctioning decisions adopted by the ASF Council in September 2024

Bucharest, 10 October 2024 - The Council of the Financial Supervisory Authority adopted, in September 2024, several sanctioning decisions, as well as a series of measures applicable to certain entities/persons operating in the non-banking financial market for breaching certain provisions of the relevant legislation.

INSURANCE MARKET

Pint.Ro Broker de Asigurare S.R.L. was sanctioned with a written warning for failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 22 para. (2) of ASF Rule no. 22/2021 on insurance distribution.

Transilvania Maxima-Broker de Asigurare S.R.L. was sanctioned with a written warning for failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 22 para. (2) of ASF Rule no. 22/2021 on insurance distribution.

Ms. Ileana-Maria Chirilă, former executive manager of Trust Brokers - Broker de Asigurare S.R.L., was sanctioned with a written warning for failure to comply with the provisions of Art. (14) of ASF Rule no. 22/2021 on insurance distribution.

Sofad Broker de Asigurare S.R.L. was sanctioned with the withdrawal of the operating license for failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 11 para. (12) of Law no. 236/2018 on insurance distribution, as subsequently amended and supplemented, and Art. 26 para. (1) of ASF Rule no. 22/2021 on insurance distribution, in relation to the provisions of Art. 29 para. (1) letters a), b) and c) items (i)-(ii) of the same rule, in conjunction with the provisions of Art. 34 of ASF Regulation no. 16/2014 on the revenues of the Financial Supervisory Authority, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the provisions of Art. 3 of ASF Rule no. 34/2020 for the implementation of the Half-Yearly Accounting Reporting System applicable to insurance entities, as subsequently amended and supplemented, respectively the provisions of Art. 2 para. (1) of ASF Rule no. 9/2020 on the financial year-end for insurance entities, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

Accentasig Broker de Asigurare S.R.L. was sanctioned with a written warning for failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 2 para. (2) of ASF Decision no. 1476/15.12.2020.

CAPITAL MARKET

S.S.I.F. IFB Finwest S.A.

Sanctions/measures ordered following the periodic inspection:

• Sanctioning S.S.I.F. IFB Finwest S.A. with a fine amounting to RON 12,500;
• Imposing a plan of measures on S.S.I.F. IFB Finwest S.A.;
• Sanctioning Mr. Octavian Molnăr with a warning - Head directly responsible of ML/TF;
• Sanctioning Mr. Lucian Codrin Berar - ML/TF Compliance Officer – with a fine amounting to RON 10,000.

The main situations identified during the audit concerned:

• Operational issues relating to the work of the internal audit and risk management function;
• Procedural and operational issues related to the assessment/monitoring/documentation of ML/TF risks and the application of know your customer measures.

S.S.I.F. Bursa Română de Mărfuri S.A.

Sanctions/measures ordered following the periodic inspection:

• Sanctioning S.S.I.F. Bursa Română de Mărfuri S.A. with a warning;
• Imposing a plan of measures on S.I.F. Bursa Română de Mărfuri S.A.;
• Sanctioning Mr. Nicolae Liviu Țibichi – General manager of S.S.I.F., and ML/TF and PFOI Compliance Officer with a warning;
• Sanctioning Mr. Dragoș Nicolae Onea - person responsible for risk management with a warning;
• Sanctioning with Mr. Bogdan Butariu - Coordinator of the risk management function and Risk Management Officer with a warning.

The main situations identified during the control concerned:

• Organisational, procedural and operational aspects regarding the recording of telephone calls and electronic communications;
• Operational aspects concerning the work related to the risk management position;
• Procedural/operational aspects relating to the identification, assessment and management of ML/TF risk, i.e. know your customer.

S.S.I.F. Tradeville S.A.

The measure ordered as a result of the periodic control was the establishment of a plan of measures to be implemented by S.S.I.F. Tradeville S.A.. The main situations identified during the control concerned organizational, procedural/operational aspects related to the use of the trading platform.

Perseus Fintech S.A.

• Sanctioning Perseus Fintech S.A. with a fine in the amount of RON 30,200 for the unjustified refusal to respond to ASF’s requests formulated by letters SI DG/3363/04.03.2024 and SI DG/12205/02.08.2024;
• Establishing the obligation for Perseus Fintech S.A. to take the necessary measures in order to send a reply, within 5 working days from the date of the decision, to ASF’s requests SI DG/3363/04.03.2024 and SI DG/12205/02.08.2024, formulated in the exercise of its powers under the law.

Societatea de Construcții Napoca S.A.

• Sanctioning Societatea de Construcții Napoca S.A. with a fine amounting to RON 20,800 for failure to comply with the obligation to prepare and publish, within the legal deadline, the annual financial report for 2023, in the single reporting format;
• Imposing on Societatea de Construcții Napoca S.A. the obligation to take the necessary measures to draw up and publish the annual financial report for the financial year 2023, in compliance with the single reporting format, within 30 days from the date of the decision.

S.S.I.F. Swiss Capital S.A.

• Sanctioning Mr. Bogdan Juravle with a warning - as head of S.S.I.F. for the late submission of the consolidated financial statements for 2023;
• Sanctioning Mr. Olimpiu Blăjuț with a warning - as head of S.S.I.F. for late submission of the consolidated financial statements for 2023;
• Establishing a plan of measures for S.S.I.F. Swiss Capital S.A. to carry out new valuation reports on affiliated entities and to adopt the necessary measures to eliminate the issues that led to the expression of a qualified opinion by the independent auditor.

Union Private Advisors S.R.L.

Sanctioning Union Privat Advisors S.R.L. with a warning, as an investment advisor, legal entity, for failure to comply with the provisions of Article 1 para. (2) of ASF Instruction no. 1/2017 as amended and supplemented, in conjunction with Art. 134 para. (3) letters b) and c) of Regulation no. 5/2019, as amended and supplemented.

SSIF Vienna Investment Trust S.A.

Sanctioning SSIF Vienna Investment Trust S.A. with a warning for failure to comply with the provisions of Art. 22 para. (6) letter b) of Regulation no. 1/2019, as amended and supplemented, which constitutes a contravention according to Art. 252, Art. 257 para. (1) letter a) item (i) of Law no. 126/2018, as amended and supplemented, and is sanctioned according to the provisions of Art. 257 para. (2) letter a) and letter b) item (ii) of the same normative act.

PRIVATE PENSIONS

NN Asigurări de Viață S.A.

• Claudia-Gabriela Constantinescu, in her capacity as Operations Director within NN Asigurări de Viață S.A., was sanctioned with a written warning for identifying deficiencies in operational processes;
• Andreea-Diana Zamfirescu, in her capacity as Voluntary Pensions Administration Manager of NN Asigurări de Viață S.A., was applied the administrative measure of warning for the identification of deficiencies in operational processes.