Combined penalty payment of EUR 1,000,000 for Alexandria Group Plc
Press release 3 June 2025
Combined penalty payment of EUR 1,000,000 for Alexandria Group Plc
The Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) has imposed a combined penalty payment of EUR 1,000,000 on Alexandria Group Plc for omissions concerning information to be obtained on clients for the provision of investment advice, the retention of said information, and the establishment of an internal control mechanism. The omissions relate to the periods from 1 March 2021 to 30 September 2021 and 11 May 2021 to 30 September 2021.
Alexandria Group Plc failed to obtained all information required by law on its clients before providing investment advice. The company did not obtain sufficient information on its clients’ knowledge of investment products, the purposes of their investments and factors affecting their capacity to bear losses. Moreover, the company failed to record information collected on clients’ understanding of basic investment concepts and information obtained to determine the client’s risk profile. The FIN-FSA also identified shortcomings in the company’s internal control mechanisms for effectively addressing deficiencies and monitoring their rectification, its work instructions for implementing audits of the investment advice process, system-technical monitoring of investment advice, and the detection of unlawful activities.
These omissions were discovered during an inspection carried out by the FIN-FSA in 2021–2022. The company provided investment advice to clients via tied agents, and the objective of the inspection was to ascertain the company's conduct with respect to suitability assessment. The inspection examined at which stage and how tied agents collected information on the client, what information was asked at the time, how the information was evaluated, and how it was documented. Another area of evaluation was internal control measures for the investment advice process provided via tied agents.
– Investment advice is a trust-based activity where clients place significant responsibility on the investment adviser for their wealth. Although clients ultimately make the investment decisions themselves in investment advice, recommendations given by the investment adviser are significant factors in the client's discretion. Legislation seeks to ensure sound investment advice, and therefore its provision always requires careful compliance with rules and appropriate conduct, states FIN-FSA Director General Tero Kurenmaa.
On account of the omissions, Alexandria Group Plc was imposed a combined penalty payment, payable to the State. The amount of the combined penalty payment was based on a comprehensive assessment that took account of the nature, extent and duration of the omissions, among other things, as well as the company's previous omissions concerning regulations for financial market participants. In 2017, the FIN-FSA imposed a penalty payment of EUR 90,000 because the company had not retained information on investment advice provided in a manner allowing verification of the course of events afterwards. At the same time, the FIN-FSA also issued a public warning because the company had failed to obtain sufficient information on the client before providing investment advice and had not taken adequate measures to ensure that the transactions concerned in the investment advice were suitable for the client.
The FIN-FSA's decision is not yet legally binding. The company may appeal the decision to the Helsinki Administrative Court within 30 days of the receipt of notice of the decision. Information on the legal validity of the decision is available on the FIN-FSA website.
For further information, please contact
Janne Häyrynen, Head of Unit, Legal. Requests for interviews are coordinated by FIN-FSA Communications, tel. +358 9 183 5030 (weekdays 9:00–16:00).
Appendix
FIN-FSA decision (pdf, in Finnish)