The Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) has fined an estate agent over anti-money laundering failings.

The regulator imposed an £8,866 fine on Essex-based estate agent Michael Adkins, trading as JB Property Services, for failing to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

Despite being registered with the OFT for anti-money laundering (AML) purposes, the estate agent failed to verify the identity of its clients.

The OFT considers such breaches of the Regulations make the business vulnerable to being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.

David Fisher, OFT director of credit and AML, said: “This fine sends out a strong message that we will impose proportionate and dissuasive fines where we find evidence of serious non compliance with Money Laundering Regulations.”