Three Finnish companies, Meriaura Invest Oy, Pokela Oy Iso Omena, and Myvision Oy, have all been fined for failing to notify transactions that were made on their own accounts within the required time frame. Instead of sending the notifications within three days, some were made out between two months to close to a year after transactions were made.

FIN-FSA, the Finnish Financial Supervisory, said that all three companies are closely associated with persons discharging managerial responsibilities in issuers.

The companies were fined:

• Meriaura Invest Oy – €30,000 ($32,524);
• Myvision Oy – €7,000 ($7,589);
• Pokela Oy Iso Omena – €15,000 ($16,263).

The companies have the right to appeal the decisions to the Helsinki Administrative Court within 30 days of receiving the notifications.

EU Market Abuse Regulation

A transaction notification must be made out to the issuer and FIN-FSA within three business days after a transaction has been made, and is based on the EU’s Market Abuse Regulation.

The regulation aims to:

• increase transparency around transactions made by issuers’ managers and closely associated persons;
• prevent market abuse;
• provide information to investors; and
• facilitate supervisory activities by authorities.

Other FIN-FSA penalties

Other fines from FIN-FSA this year include:

January 25: An administrative €90,000 ($97,500) fine was imposed on Finland’s largest pension provider Keva for failures in reporting derivative contracts.

January 25: €60,000 ($65,015) was imposed on former Tecnotree Oyj board member Markku Wilenius over violating a prohibition on transactions.

June 4: Money remittance service providers Roble Services Oy and Alami Services Oy have both been fined for failing to comply with AML regulation.

Roble Services Oy was fined €25,000 ($27,175) for failing to set up an adequate risk assessment, and for not properly assessing money laundering and terrorist financing risks within customer relationships.

Alami Services Oy was fined €15,000 ($16,309) for the same failure to comply with the mandatory reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit on individual or linked payments or remittances with a value of at least €1,000.