The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has published a supervisory report on Sem & Johnsen Oppgjør og Administrasjon AS finding multiple errors in the execution of real estate settlements and concluding that the firm's internal control system was not sufficiently designed to prevent partly serious failures from occurring or recurring. Most of the errors had already been detected by the firm, but the authority said they pointed to weaknesses linked to human error, system issues, or both. It also raised concerns about the firm's duty of care to buyers in settlements under the Housing Construction Act and about parts of its anti-money laundering compliance. The report cites cases where the firm collected too little of the purchase price before completion, paid out client money or seller proceeds before the buyer had secured legal protection, and made duplicate disbursements that used other clients' funds. It also found shortcomings in calculating and paying client interest and in settlement statements. In off-plan transactions, the authority said the firm had not adequately verified guarantee coverage before taking advance payments and had not documented that buyers were informed when developer guarantees were provided late. Anti-money laundering findings included gaps in the enterprise risk assessment, no routine for redemption of private mortgage loans, missing checks on account signatories, politically exposed person status and beneficial owners in some files, and a failure in one case to investigate despite a money laundering indicator. The authority noted that most of the settlement breaches arose before 1 July 2025, when the administrative penalty provision took effect, and that it would otherwise have considered imposing a penalty. The firm said it has tightened routines, strengthened training and controls for complex settlements, will update its anti-money laundering risk assessment and procedures, clarify guarantee coverage before partial settlements, and complete payment of outstanding client interest. The authority asked the firm to send the report to its auditor.
Norwegian Finanstilsynet2026-05-26
Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway finds repeated settlement failures and weak internal controls at Sem & Johnsen Oppgjør og Administrasjon
The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway published a supervisory report on Sem & Johnsen Oppgjør og Administrasjon AS identifying multiple errors in real estate settlements and concluding that the firm’s internal control system was not adequately designed to prevent serious failures. It highlighted weaknesses in settlement practices under the Housing Construction Act and in anti-money laundering compliance, noting that most breaches occurred before 1 July 2025, when the administrative penalty provision took effect. The firm has tightened routines, enhanced training and controls, committed to updating its anti-money laundering risk assessment and procedures, and was instructed to share the report with its auditor.