Emma RadmoreThe FCA has fined Kristo Käärmann, CEO of Wise plc and SMF1 and SMF3 of Wise Assets UK, after he failed to consider the significance of tax issues and did not notify the FCA of them.
Mr Käärmann had been fined over £350,000 by HMRC in 2021 for deliberately failing to notify it of a CGT liability following a share sale in 2017. HMRC subsequently added him to their public tax defaulters list.
Mr Käärmann had been approved by the FCA to an SMF since 2020. The FCA said these matters were relevant to its assessment in 2021 of Mr Käärmann’s fitness and propriety, and he failed appropriately to consider their significance and failed to notify the FCA. The FCA said it should have been obvious to him that they would be relevant, and fined him £350,000 for breach of Senior Management Conduct Rule 4.