MLR1PP8660 - Penalties Guidance: The additional starting penalty for TCSPs and ASPs: Continued

There will however be exceptions to these general principles. Some TCSPs and ASPs may only act on behalf of a small number of significant clients. Under these circumstances it would not be appropriate to apply the same scale charge to a business with a small number of significant clients than one with a larger number of small clients, paying a small fee, for limited services.

If the same scale was applied to both it could result in a penalty which was not proportionate and dissuasive because it was too low relative to the risk of money laundering by these significant clients.

To eliminate this anomaly an additional tapered scale charge will apply to businesses that have less than 1,000 relevant clients in a typical 12 month period.

The additional amount will still be subject to the penalty cap and this will ensure that businesses with less than 1,000 significant clients are not disproportionably penalised if they only receive a relatively small fee for their services. How this works in practice is explained in MLR1PP9010 

The additional starting penalty for TCSPs and ASPs will be the total of the scale charge and any additional scale charge. See MLR1PP9000 

When calculating the additional starting penalty for a TCSP or ASP the following steps should be followed.