Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway finds Coeo Inkasso failed to consolidate more than 1,000 debt claims

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has published an inspection report finding that Coeo Inkasso AS failed to consolidate more than 1,000 debt claims and had inadequate risk management and internal controls for that process. The inspection also identified improper client money handling and weaknesses in information and communication technology (ICT) oversight and contingency testing. The firm must extend its review beyond the period inspected and waive extrajudicial collection costs on all claims that should have been combined, refunding amounts already paid. Reducing charges to what would have been payable after consolidation is insufficient. Claims involving the same creditor and debtor at the same collection stage must be assessed for consolidation when payment demands are issued, including when a demand is resent. Automated processing cannot replace written procedures explaining when to consolidate claims and how to correct failures. Once remediation is complete, the firm must report the number of corrected cases and the collection costs repaid. Client account checks found advance transfers to the operating account unrelated to specific cases and improper bank fee deductions. The firm reported changing its transfer practices, ending those fee deductions and introducing monthly account checks. With most ICT services outsourced, stronger internal second line controls are needed, with findings reported to management and the board. Contingency testing must reflect the firm’s own business impact analysis, documented tolerance limits and maximum tolerable downtime. The firm reported completing that analysis and a tailored crisis exercise, with the exercise results still to be evaluated.