Cyberhorizon faces Isle of Man penalty for AML and CTF breaches

The regulator carried out a supervisory investigation of Cyberhorizon and uncovered several breaches. Cyberhorizon held a licence in the Isle of Man between 5 March 2021 and 25 September 2023.

An investigation in June 2023 identified breaches of the Gambling (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) Code 2019. These focused on Cyberhorizon not regularly reviewing its customer risk assessment.

Cyberhorizon provides video-based office platforms to clients. These serve as a virtual office for teams to collaborate using a range of in-built tools. It is not clear which clients Cyberhorizon has, or had, in the gambling industry. Nether the GSC nor Cyberhorizon’s website provides any details of past partnerships.

According to the GSC, Cyberhorizon failed to fully implement a technology risk assessment before it launched. Cyberhorizon also failed to cease customer relationships after such users did not provide enhanced due diligence or meet certain regulatory requirements.

On top of this, the GSC said Cyberhorizon did not set out how records could be retrieved following licence cessation.

As such, the Isle of Man regulator deemed the breaches worthy of a penalty. Initially, this was set at £200,000 but later reduced to £140,000 as CyberHorizon cooperated with the investigation.

CyberHorizon slammed over “serious” breaches

In a post-settlement statement issued on Friday (4 October), the GSC said the penalty reflected the seriousness of the case.

“The Commission is satisfied that the imposition of the civil penalty on CyberHorizon reflects the serious nature of the non-compliance and issues identified,” the GSC said.

“We are also satisfied that the directors of CyberHorizon, at this time, recognise and accept that there had been certain shortcomings in that mandatory aspects of the code had not been complied with.”

The GSC also said other providers should take note of the breaches to ensure they operate in line with regulations.

“All firms undertaking business in the regulated gambling sector have an obligation to conduct their affairs in a manner that adequately identifies and mitigates,” the GSC said. “This includes, among other things, the money laundering and terrorist financing risks faced by it.”

The GSC warned it would exercise its powers “robustly” when it identifies material risk to its regulatory objectives, to uphold the Isle of Man’s reputation as a “a responsible and well regulated, jurisdiction”.