Directors at the money transfer company Wise have told its billionaire chief executive to hire professional advisers after he was fined for defaulting on his taxes.
Wise said its board had launched a review after Kristo Kaarmann, its co-founder, was penalised for late payment of his personal tax bill in 2017/18.
The Telegraph revealed in September that Mr Kaarmann had been fined £365,651 by HMRC for failing to heed repeated reminders to pay a tax bill.
The fine raised questions about whether the Estonian-born executive could face censure under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s senior managers regime.
Matt Briers, Wise’s chief financial officer, said the board had completed a “thorough review” of the matter and recommended that he appoint tax experts to help manage his finances.
Mr Briers said: “We take this really seriously. We completed a thorough review and recommended that Kristo appoint professional advisers. Kristo has welcomed this oversight and is using a tax adviser. We’ve taken the right steps.”
He said the company had informed the FCA and added: “As you’d expect, in the dialogue we have with our regulators we would and should notify them of these events and the governance process.”
Legal experts have warned that the FCA could sanction Mr Kaarmann, although he is believed to have disclosed the situation to the regulator.
