The Department of Internal Affairs says it has issued a formal warning to Denton Morrell Ltd under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.

It says formal warnings are issued when a supervisory agency has reasonable grounds to believe that a reporting entity has engaged in conduct that constitutes a civil liability act.

"Denton Morrell Limited, company number 5313201, failed to meet AML/CFT Act requirements over the period 17 November 2015 to 2 May 2018 that include failing to conduct customer due diligence, as required by subpart 1 of Part 2 in the Act; failing to adequately monitor accounts and transactions and failing to establish, implement or maintain an AML/CFT programme," the department says.

"The formal warning to Denton Morrell Limited was issued on 30 January 2019 under section 80 of the AML/CFT Act. It is not alleged that this reporting entity was actually involved in money laundering or the financing of terrorism."

The department says Denton Morrell Ltd specifically provides its customers with trust, company and limited partnership establishment for individual and corporate clients; trust and company administration/management services; registered office services and consultancy – in particular reviews of existing family asset holding structures and succession planning.

It says it required Denton Morrell Ltd to take immediate action to rectify all areas where it was non-compliant with its AML/CFT obligations.

"The department will continue to monitor the company and consider further enforcement action if it engages in conduct that does not comply with the AML/CFT Act.

"The Department is the supervisory agency that monitors trust and company service providers for compliance with their obligations under the AML/CFT Act. This is the third trust and company service provider that has been issued a formal warning and the fifth formal warning to be published as a summary."