FCA fines CEO £350,000 over CGT liability issues

Wise CEO broke senior manager conduct rule

Eve Maddock-Jones
clock • 1 min read

Wise CEO Kristo Käärmann has been fined by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for breaching a senior manager conduct rule regarding tax issues.

The FCA fined Käärmann £350,000 for breaking senior management conduct rule four, which states: 'You must disclose appropriately any information of which the FCA would reasonably expect notice.' An FCA investigation into Käärmann was originally opened in 2022 after he paid a £365,651 fine to HM Revenue & Customs the year prior for deliberately failing to notify the tax office of a capital gains tax liability after he sold shares worth £10m in 2017 and was subsequently added to its public tax defaulters list. The regulator said that the incident was relevant to its assessment of Käärma...

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