Bergensavisen – Sloppy Marton with Client Resources

"The revealed conditions are such that Finanstilsynet has considered revoking the company's license to conduct real estate brokerage," concludes Finanstilsynet in the final report following an inspection of the real estate company Marton.

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  The audit revealed illegal departments, a bad log system and a lack of control of client accounts.

  The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority considers that they consider it very serious that Marton has not treated the client's funds properly and in accordance with the regulations.

  Accounting error

  Real estate agents are required every month to verify that accounts receivable correspond to deposits made to customers' bank accounts – referred to as "reconciliation".

  – Check and maybe detect erroneous payments, for example. Haatveit to the Real Estate and Debt Collection Section of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority

  The audit revealed that Marton had not carried out such monthly verifications and found a subordination of 2.7 million kronor, which is a difference between customer accounts and the bank. 19659010] – In this case, there were negative balances in the accounts, According to Haatveit, there is not enough funds in the accounts of customers

  There are two reasons why balances are negative in the accounts. Either it is a failure or it is simply lacking money because one or more mistakes have been made. In the case of Marton, there was an error in the accounts

  – This was not money that was missing, but it looked like this in reconciliation. This should be taken care of much sooner. It is the money of a customer paid to the company. If you do not have control of your customer resources, this can cause a loss to customers, Haatveit says.

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  Missed professional

  In addition to a lack of reconciliation, the FSA Danish found that two of Marton's branches were illegal. Neither the Oslo office nor Stavanger was registered with the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority. Branches are also required to have a professional at the office.

  
  

  Marton claimed to have a department in Ålesund that was neither registered with the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority nor unprofessional.

  All departments were closed and the departments of Ålesund and Stavanger are

  – The department of Oslo was reopened after becoming a professional officer and registered with the Authority Danish financial supervision, says Haatveit.

  The audit also revealed that the computer system used by Marton had significant deficiencies.

  – Money was safe

  Marton did not respond to BA's requests regarding this case. For Dagens Næringsliv, CEO Truls-Petter Bergh of Marton says the money for customers has never been in danger.

  – The client's money is safe from the start. In addition, we have now strengthened this function with a newly appointed new Deputy Director General, he told DN.

  In terms of departmental deficiencies, he believes that there has been a misunderstanding related to what is an office.

  – Our understanding was that there were no real estate agencies because there were only vendors in Oslo and Stavanger. They did not only drive the sellers and put the customer in touch with the realtors in Bergen at the time of the sale, "said Bergh to DN

  Corrected

  After the audit, Marton corrected all the errors found.This prompted Finanstilsynet not to withdraw their permission to drive real estate, even if the conditions revealed are of such a nature that it was envisaged.

  – We have many insisted that the company made significant changes to the direction, writes the review in the report.