The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today fined three money transfer companies after they admitted fixing the prices charged to consumers in Glasgow.
Dollar East (International Travel & Money Transfer) Ltd; Hafiz Bros Travel & Money Transfer Limited; and LCC Trans-Sending Limited (including its parent company, Small World Financial Services Group Limited), trading as Small World, have been fined a total of more than £150,000 for breaching competition law.
The FCA imposed the following fines:
- Dollar East has been fined £3,600.
- Hafiz Bros was fined £11,200.
- Small World was fined £139,500.
All three companies admitted to the FCA that they breached competition law and received settlement discounts to reflect savings to the FCA for bringing this investigation to an earlier conclusion.
The FCA found that, between 18 February 2017 and 31 May 2017, firms coordinated certain exchange rates offered to customers in Glasgow to convert UK pounds into Pakistani rupees when transferring money to Pakistan.
They were also found to have fixed the transaction fee charged to customers when they made certain money transfers from the UK to Pakistan through Small World’s Services.
This price fixing affected transfers made by customers at Dollar East and Small World branches in Glasgow.
The FCA found that Hafiz Bros, while not operating a branch serving customers in Glasgow, facilitated this conduct.
Separately, the FCA has also written to other money transfer firms in Glasgow to remind them of their obligations under competition law.