The AMF Enforcement Committee fines an asset management company and its directors for breaches of their professional obligations

M Capital Partners is an asset management company which, in parallel to this business, also acts as a tied agent for an investment services provider.

The AMF Board accused M Capital Partners of having, in its capacity as tied agent of an investment services provider, provided the service of placing of financial instruments without a firm commitment basis, even though this investment service cannot be provided by an asset management company. According to the Board, M Capital Partners had thus circumvented the restrictive list of investment services that may be provided by an asset management company.

The Enforcement Committee rejected this first objection. Following a review of the documents on the file, it considered that the company had not provided the placing service, whether on a firm commitment basis or not, since it had not sought out subscribers on behalf of issuers.

On the other hand, the Committee upheld the other objections notified to M Capital Partners in connection with its collective investment management business. It held that M Capital Partners' investment system was not operational due to the imprecise nature of the process and rules for allocating investments between the funds under management. The Committee also found that the management company was not in compliance with its investment procedure and that it was unable to demonstrate the traceability of the verifications carried out.

In addition, the Committee noted that M Capital Partners had failed to fulfil its obligations in terms of identification, prevention and management of conflicts of interest, that M Capital Partners' anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) system was deficient and not operational, and that the due diligence performed was inadequate.

The Committee considered that all these breaches were attributable to Mr Secco and Ms Minissier, as responsible managers.

An appeal may be lodged against this decision.

About the Enforcement Committee
The Enforcement Committee, which is made up of judges and professionals, has total freedom to make decisions. It can impose sanctions on any person or company whose practices contravene laws and regulations that fall within the jurisdiction of the AMF. It ratifies settlement agreements signed by the Secretary General and respondents. And it takes part in the AMF’s educational efforts by clarifying financial regulations when explaining its decisions.