News
Latest on risk management, professional indemnity and compliance issues.
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May 08, 2024
Financial sanctions guidance for ransomware (Updated)
See here.
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May 07, 2024
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing: Supervision Report: 2022-23
See here.
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May 02, 2024
UK Financial Sanctions FAQs
See here.
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April 30, 2024
Law Society guidance: Anti-money laundering – Professional Enablers (with links to case studies for firms and individuals)
See here.
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April 30, 2024
New EU rules to combat money-laundering adopted
See here.
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April 09, 2024
SARs Annual Statistical Report 2023
See here.
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April 02, 2024
ABFA Commodities Trading Ltd v Petraco Oil Company SA (Re Consequential Matters) [2024] EWHC 706 (Comm) (27 March 2024)
A designated person had no legal or equitable interest in money held in escrow. Pending an order of the court, the designated person had had an equity of redemption which might, if the court so ordered be paid out, but was extinguished when the court ordered payment out to another party.
See here.
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March 12, 2024
FATF Updated Guidance on Beneficial Ownership and Transparency of Legal Arrangements
See here.
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March 11, 2024
HM Treasury consultation on improving the effectiveness of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017
See here.
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March 06, 2024
Law Society guidance: The UK sanctions regime
See here.
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March 06, 2024
SRA Sectoral Risk Assessment (Updated 5 March 2024)
Updated SRA Sectoral Risk Assessment drawing attention to the following new risks:
1️⃣ Vendor fraud.
2️⃣ Pooled client funds.
3️⃣ Third-party managed accounts.
4️⃣ Irregular methods of transferring funds.
5️⃣ Sanctions risk has been placed under its own risk heading.
6️⃣ Updated references to Covid-19.
7️⃣ Modern slavery in relation to cash-based industries.
8️⃣ Further references to AI and cybercrime.
9️⃣ Updated position with regard to domestic PEPs.See here.
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March 05, 2024
Country Risk FAQs – Wolfsberg Group
See here.
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March 05, 2024
Post-Legislative Scrutiny Memorandum: Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018
This memorandum has been prepared by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and provides a summary and a preliminary assessment of the provisions and implementation of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (“SAMLA”).
See here.
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February 27, 2024
An update on OFSI’s licensing process and policies – Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation
See here.
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February 26, 2024
FATF publish plenary outcomes with updates to ‘grey’ list
Outcomes from the FATF February plenary have now been published with changes to the High Risk Countries list. The update removes United Arab Emirates, Gibraltar, Uganda and Barbados and adds Kenya and Namibia.
See here.
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February 22, 2024
UK sanctions strategy
See here.
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February 20, 2024
OFSI Russia Guidance – updated February 2024
See here.
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February 14, 2024
FATF publishes Annual Report 2022/23
See here.
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February 08, 2024
2024 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment
The US Government’s 2024 Money Laundering National Risk Assessment highlights a number of risks relating to law firms, including use of pooled trust accounts masking beneficial ownership of funds. Recent criminal indictments indicate that lawyers may be facilitating Russian money laundering and sanctions violation. A Texas attorney pleaded guilty to conspiring to repatriate $18m untaxed income from offshore accounts held in the Isle of Man. Trust and Company Service Providers (TCSPs) are highlighted as a risk. The risk assessment also highlights concerns over Chinese underground banking.
See here.
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February 02, 2024
Transparency Corruption Perceptions Index 2023
Latest ratings released on 30 January 2024 with score changes for 117 countries.
See here.
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January 24, 2024
SRA Guidance – Sanctions regime – firm-wide risk assessments
See here.
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January 23, 2024
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) Regulations 2024
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 remove Schedule 3ZA and update the definition of a High Risk Third Country in Regulation 33(3)(a) of the MLR 2017 to align with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey and black lists.
See here.
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January 11, 2024
Guidance on money laundering reporting obligations in relation to the DAML exemption provisions introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 – GOV.UK
See here.
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December 18, 2023
The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2023
See here.
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December 15, 2023
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (in force 10 January 2024)
Amendments providing that the starting point for the risk assessment of UK domestic PEPs is that the customer or potential customer presents a lower level of risk than a non-domestic PEP.
See here.
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December 14, 2023
OFSI Annual Review 2022-23: Strengthening our Sanctions
See here.
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December 05, 2023
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2023, in force from 5 December 2023
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2023, in force from 5 December 2023, substitute the list of high-risk third countries specified in Schedule 3ZA of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 adding Bulgaria, Cameroon, Croatia, Nigeria, South Africa and Vietnam and removing Albania, Cayman Islands, Jordan and Panama to reflect changes in FATF lists.
See here.
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December 01, 2023
Addendum to the LSAG Guidance (December 2023)
See here.
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November 27, 2023
Misuse of Citizenship and Residency by Investment Programmes – A Joint FATF/OECD Report
The report includes numerous case studies.
See here.
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November 20, 2023
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has released amendments to the FATF Recommendations
See here.
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November 17, 2023
Ownership and Control: Public Officials and Control guidance – GOV.UK
See here.
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November 17, 2023
Prominent public functions at national level, at the level of International Organisations and at the level of the European Union Institutions and Bodies
See here.
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November 16, 2023
A Boundless Threat? The Rise of Organised Crime in the UK – Royal United Services Institute article
See here.
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November 14, 2023
Basel AML Index 2023
See here.
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October 31, 2023
Law Society of Scotland – AML annual supervisory report 2023
See here.
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October 25, 2023
OFSI Legal Services General Licence
See here.
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October 18, 2023
SRA Warning notice – Client and matter risk assessments
This also includes a client and matter risk assessment template.
See here.
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October 13, 2023
SRA – Anti-Money Laundering annual report 2022-23
See here.
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September 26, 2023
SRA – Proceeds of crime – Guidance (Updated 25 September 2023)
See here.
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September 22, 2023
Law Society guidance on Professional Enablers
See here.
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September 21, 2023
Updated SRA guidance on Firmwide Risk Assessments
This now covers proliferation financing. There is also a link to an updated template which contains several changes from the original version and more detail.
See here.
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September 06, 2023
Suspicious Activity Reports – National Crime Agency – New SAR portal announced
A new SAR portal will be operational from 18 September 2023. Links are provided to two user guides, two video guides and a FAQs document.
See here.
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August 16, 2023
SRA AML Questions and answers
The SRA has updated its Anti-money laundering Q&A to include a further question on sanctions checking on counterparties.
See here.
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July 25, 2023
SRA Updated Sectoral Risk Assessment – Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing
This also addresses proliferation financing.
See here.
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July 18, 2023
HMRC Estate and letting agency business guidance for money laundering supervision
Updated 17 July 2023 to include reference to proliferation financing.
See here.
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July 17, 2023
Law Society Parliamentary briefing: Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023: Consideration by Joint Committee of Statutory Instruments
See here.
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July 03, 2023
Government guidance: Complying with professional and business services sanctions related to Russia
See here.
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July 03, 2023
Law Society guidance: UK sanctions regime
This has been updated to cover the introduction on 30 June 2023 of restrictions on the provision of legal advisory services under The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 as amended by The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023.
See here.
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June 30, 2023
HM Government consultation paper: Reforming anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision
See here.
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June 30, 2023
The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2023
These prohibit the provision of a wide range of legal advisory services in non-contentious (including transactional) matters.
See here.
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June 29, 2023
SRA Guidance – Proceeds of crime
See here.
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June 26, 2023
Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) Regulations 2023
This statutory instrument comes into force on 27 June 2023 and updates the list of high-risk third countries specified in Schedule 3ZA of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to remove Cambodia and Morocco.
See here.
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June 22, 2023
Companies House guidance – Register of Overseas Entities: approach to enforcement
See here.
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June 09, 2023
NCA – Updated SARs Guidance (June 2023, v.9.0)
See here.
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June 09, 2023
RUSI Institutional Proliferation Finance Risk Assessment Guide
See here.
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April 28, 2023
Anti-Money Laundering Supervision by the Legal and Accountancy Professional Body Supervisors: Progress and themes from our 2022/23 supervisory work
See here.
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April 17, 2023
Law Society guide to the UK sanctions regime
See here.
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April 12, 2023
Information request power for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to use in relation to economic crime – MoJ Impact Assessment
See here.
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April 11, 2023
HM Government Factsheet: failure to prevent fraud offence
See here.
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April 11, 2023
Updated SRA Guidance on firm inspections for AML compliance
See here.
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April 03, 2023
OPBAS Multi-PBS project on TCSP risk
See here.
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March 29, 2023
Legal Sector Affinity Group Guidance – updated March 2023 to cover consideration of proliferation financing in Practice Wide Risk Assessments and changes to the duty to report discrepancies to company registries
See here.
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March 22, 2023
Trust or company service provider guidance for money laundering supervision – updated guidance
See here.
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March 16, 2023
FATF report: Countering Ransomware Financing
See here.
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March 15, 2023
Law Society guidance: Suspicious activity reports
See here.
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March 15, 2023
FATF Guidance on Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons
See here.
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March 09, 2023
Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) Advisory Notice – Chinese underground banking and funds from China
See here.
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March 08, 2023
Updated NCA guidance note: Requesting a defence from the NCA under POCA and TACT
See here.
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March 02, 2023
SRA Case studies: Improper use of client account as a banking facility (Updated 1 March 2023)
See here.
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March 02, 2023
SRA Warning notice – Improper use of client account as a banking facility (Updated 1 March 2023)
See here.
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February 24, 2023
Report of the outcomes from the FATF Plenary in Paris, 22-24 February 2023
New jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring on the ‘grey list’ are South Africa and Nigeria.
See here.
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January 31, 2023
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2022 (30 January 2023)
See here.
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January 31, 2023
NCA – updated SAR guidance (January 2023)
See here.
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January 24, 2023
NCA – SARs Annual Report 2022
See here.
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December 20, 2022
HMRC Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2020-22
See here.
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December 13, 2022
EU Council press release on AML and CTF legislative proposals
See here.
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November 29, 2022
SRA Guidance – Complying with the UK Sanctions Regime
See here.
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November 23, 2022
Luxembourg Business Registers (Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing – Judgment) [2022] EUECJ C-37/20
European Court of Justice decision holding that public access to registers of beneficial ownership in the EU contravenes GDPR.
See here.
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November 16, 2022
Law Society of Scotland guidance note – Cryptocurrencies – Risk Assessment & Source of Funds/Wealth Considerations in the context of Conveyancing Transactions
See here.
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November 15, 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2022 add Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Tanzania to the list of High-Risk Countries and remove Nicaragua and Pakistan for the purposes of enhanced customer due diligence requirements in regulation 33(3) of the 2017 Regulations.
See here.
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November 11, 2022
EU Commission Supranational Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment
See here.
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October 31, 2022
OFSI Legal Fees General Licence
See here.
OFSI has also published a blog post explaining this.
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October 26, 2022
SRA AML annual report 2021/2022
See here.
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October 24, 2022
FATF High-Risk Jurisdictions and Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring – 21 October 2022
Myanmar is added to the black list. Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Mozambique are added to the grey list, with Pakistan and Nicaragua removed from the grey list.
See here for High-Risk Jurisdictions and here for Jurisdictions.
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October 07, 2022
Basel AML Index 2022
See here.
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October 05, 2022
Anguilla, The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands added to EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions
See here.
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July 28, 2022
FATF Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach – Real Estate Sector
See here.
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July 22, 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022
See here.
Note that the discrepancy reporting provisions come into force on 1 April 2023.
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July 13, 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 add Gibraltar to the list of High-Risk Countries and remove Malta for the purposes of enhanced customer due diligence requirements in regulation 33(3) of the 2017 Regulations.
See here.
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July 12, 2022
NCA and OFSI Red Alert – Financial Sanctions Evasion Typologies: Russian Elites and Enablers
See here.
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July 06, 2022
Legal Sector Affinity Group – Changes and approval by HM Treasury
See here.
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June 29, 2022
Law Society guidance: Impacts of economic instability on money laundering risk
See here.
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June 29, 2022
Law Society guidance: Remote working, client interaction and associated use of AML technology
See here.
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June 27, 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 (Draft)
See here.
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June 21, 2022
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adds Gibraltar to grey list of jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in its anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime
See here.
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June 16, 2022
Amendments to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 Statutory Instrument 2022: Response to the consultation
The changes proposed following the consultation will be enacted in a Statutory Instrument later this year. Changes include allowing AML/CTF supervisors access to the content of the SARs of their supervised population, increased Companies House discrepancy reporting obligations, increased CDD requirements for Trust and Company Service Providers through an extension to the scope of the term ‘business relationship’, and tailoring of the provisions in the Funds Transfer Regulation to the cryptoasset sector.
See here.
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June 10, 2022
Law Commission paper on corporate criminal liability for failure to prevent fraud
See here.
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June 08, 2022
SRA – Law firms required to provide data under new AML requirements
See here.
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May 20, 2022
SRA data collection on firms’ work within scope of the money laundering regulations
See here.
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May 19, 2022
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – Consolidated assessment ratings (updated 17 May 2022)
See here.
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March 29, 2022
Updates to Money Laundering Regulations 2017 High Risk Third Countries List
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 are in force from today (29 March 2022), amending Schedule 3ZA of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. United Arab Emirates has been added to the high risk third countries list and Zimbabwe has been removed.
See here.
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March 23, 2022
Office of Financial Sanctions (OFSI) – updated guidance (22 March 2022)
OFSI has updated its general guidance by adding a paragraph to Chapter 4 on ownership and control and its approach to the aggregation of different designated persons’ holdings in a company.
See here.
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March 10, 2022
Financial Action Task Force – Public Consultation on the FATF Risk-Based Guidance to the Real Estate Sector
See here.
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March 07, 2022
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been added to the Financial Act Task Force (FATF) grey list
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been added to the Financial Act Task Force (FATF) grey list, placing it under increased monitoring while it addresses strategic deficiencies in its anti-money laundering regime.
The FATF does not call for the application of enhanced due diligence measures to be applied to these jurisdictions, but encourages its members and all jurisdictions to take into account the information presented in the notice in their risk analysis.
See here.
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March 04, 2022
OFSI Russia Guidance
OFSI has updated its Russia guidance in line with the current and emerging circumstances of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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March 04, 2022
FCA statement on Events in Ukraine – impact on financial markets, warning of insider dealing risk issues
See here.
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February 17, 2022
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2022
These Regulations amend the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/692) (the “MLRs”), mainly changing the time limits for registration of trusts (extended to 1 September 2022) but also adding further exclusions to the type of trusts which are required to register. There are certain other minor changes.
See here.
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February 16, 2022
Chainalysis publishes 2022 Crypto Crime Report
The report explains how cryptocurrency is used in money laundering and ransomware.
See here.
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February 11, 2022
The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022
The regulations, in force from 10 February 2022, amend the designation criteria of The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. Designation criteria now include those who have been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia. There are as yet no new designations.
See here.
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January 25, 2022
Law Society Practice Note – Responding to a financial crime investigation
The Law Society has updated its Practice Note to incorporate references to the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors 2019. See here.
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January 04, 2022
Deepfakes: a future threat to watch as cybercriminals develop their skills in this area
Article by Yotam Katz, Product Manager at IntSights. This raises concern that verbal confirmation of payment instructions may not invariably provide sufficient protection against fraud.
See here.
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January 04, 2022
European Commission initiative to fight against the misuse of shell entities for improper tax purposes
See here.
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December 23, 2021
The Biggest Threat to Trust in Cryptocurrency: Blog by Chainalysis on the extent of cryptocurrency-based crime in 2021
See here.
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December 15, 2021
Companies House announcement of new procedure for reporting PSC (People with Significant Control) discrepancies
See here.
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December 09, 2021
The UK’s kleptocracy problem – Chatham House report
See here.
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December 02, 2021
Council of Europe proposals on transparency of crypto-asset transfers to tackle money laundering
See here.
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November 24, 2021
Chainalysis | 2021 Crypto Crime Report LP
The report explains how cryptocurrency is used in money laundering and ransomware.
See here.
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November 23, 2021
SRA report on Money Laundering Governance and the role of MLCOs and MLROs: Three Pillars of Success
See here.
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November 22, 2021
Anti-money laundering and counter- terrorist financing: Supervision Report 2019-20 (November 2021)
See here.
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November 18, 2021
CLC Annual AML report 2021
See here.
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November 16, 2021
National Crime Agency – SARs in action
For the November 2021 issue, see here.
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November 11, 2021
SRA Guidance: Firm risk assessments
See here.
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November 02, 2021
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 3) (High-Risk Countries) Regulations 2021
These regulations amend the list of high-risk countries for the purposes of enhanced customer due diligence requirements in regulation 33(3) with effect from 1 November 2021. Botswana and Mauritius are removed from the list and Jordan, Mali and Turkey have been added.
See here.
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October 29, 2021
National Economic Crime Centre warning on Payment Diversion Fraud – What you need to know, and how to protect yourself
See here.
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October 29, 2021
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Updated Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers
See here.
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October 22, 2021
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Public Statement on Pandora Papers
See here.
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October 14, 2021
OFSI Annual Review: 2020 to 2021
See here.
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October 13, 2021
SRA first annual report on money laundering pursuant to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019
See here.
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October 01, 2021
SARs online – Introduction to the new portal
SARs Online – Introduction to the new portal. This will introduce more structured data and online help.
See here.
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September 22, 2021
Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy: draft legislation – GOV.UK
See here.
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September 21, 2021
Office for Professional Body AML Supervision (OPBAS) Annual report 2021
See here.
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September 17, 2021
UK Finance paper: Making sense of the financial crime risk posed by cryptoassets and how to manage it appropriately
See here.
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September 14, 2021
Basel AML index 2021
See here.
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August 17, 2021
Acres of Money Laundering: Why U.S. Real Estate is a Kleptocrat’s Dream – Report by Global Financial Integrity
Although primarily focused on the USA, this report is a comparative analysis of real estate money laundering regulations in the G7.
See here.
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July 23, 2021
Consultation on Amendments to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017
See here.
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July 14, 2021
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 2) (High-Risk Countries) Regulations 2021
These regulations remove Ghana from, and add Haiti, Malta, Philippines and South Sudan to, the list of high risk countries for the purposes of enhanced customer due diligence requirements in regulation 33(3) of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.
See here.
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July 12, 2021
FATF report: Money Laundering from Environmental Crime
See here.
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July 09, 2021
Home office circular: money laundering: the confidentiality and sensitivity of suspicious activity reports (SARs) in the context of disclosure in private civil litigation
Note that this also addresses data subject access requests under UK GDPR.
See here.
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June 30, 2021
Financial sanctions: OFSI blog on Reasonableness in Licensing
See here.
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June 23, 2021
OFSI – updated Russia Guidance: Guidance for the financial and investment restrictions in Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
See here.
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June 07, 2021
Crown Prosecution Service: Updated guidance on prosecution of money laundering offences
Note that for offences committed on or after 2 June 2021 the CPS will prosecute individuals for failure to disclose offences under s330 regardless of whether it subsequently transpires that money laundering cannot be proven, or that it did not occur.
See here.
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May 28, 2021
Trust Registration Service Manual – HMRC internal manual
See here.
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May 04, 2021
Anti-Money Laundering: sections 32-34 of the Financial Services Act 2021 make a small number of amendments to legislation including sections 327-9 and other provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
They extend the application of the legislation to electronic money, and to overseas trustees.
See here.
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April 27, 2021
The Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021
These Regulations are made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 to establish a sanctions regime for the purpose of preventing and combatting serious corruption. They confer a power on the Secretary of State to designate persons who are, or have been, involved in serious corruption. They confer powers on the Treasury to issue licences in respect of activities that would otherwise be prohibited. They revoke the Misappropriation (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.
See here.
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April 21, 2021
LSAG Guidance part 2b for TCSPs published
Specific Guidance for Trust or Company Service Providers, see here.
Part 2a AML Guidance for barristers / advocates and part 2c AML Guidance for legal professionals offering notarial services have also been published.
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April 19, 2021
Sanctions: OFSI Introduction to licensing
See here.
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April 13, 2021
European Union serious and organised crime threat assessment
The report notes that ‘Complicit legal and financial advisors as well as lawyers and notaries provide information to criminals on police records and criminal proceedings and assist in setting up fraud schemes and networks of companies to acquire and launder money… More than 80 % of the criminal networks active in the EU use legal business structures for their criminal activities’.
See here.
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March 30, 2021
HM Treasury Advisory Notice: Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing controls in higher risk jurisdictions
Requirement to apply Enhanced Due Diligence for higher risk jurisdictions.
See here.
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March 30, 2021
SRA Annual report by the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) for the year ending October 2020
See here.
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March 26, 2021
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (High-Risk Countries) Regulations 2021
These Regulations amend the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/692) (“the MLRs”) to insert as Schedule 3ZA a new UK list of high-risk third countries for the purposes of enhanced customer due diligence requirements. In force 26 March 2021.
See here.
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March 23, 2021
Law Society: Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing glossary
See here.
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March 22, 2021
SRA: updated Tax Adviser guidance
See here.
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March 10, 2021
OFSI Updated guidance on monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions (effective 1 April 2021)
See here.
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March 10, 2021
European Banking Authority Guidelines On Customer Due Diligence And The Factors Credit And Financial Institutions Should Consider When Assessing The ML/TF Risk Associated With Individual Business Relationships And Occasional Transactions
This includes guidance in relation to simplified due diligence on pooled accounts at 9.16-9.19, including ‘identifying and verifying the identity of the customer, including the customer’s beneficial owners (but not the customer’s underlying clients)’.
See here.
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February 26, 2021
OECD report – Ending the Shell Game: Cracking down on the Professionals who enable Tax and White Collar Crimes
The report includes recommendations on “targeting professional enablers and disrupting their activities.”
See here.
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February 25, 2021
Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) Sourcebook for professional body anti-money laundering supervisors
Addendum added with guidance on prohibitions and approvals of applications to be a beneficial owner, officer or manager of a firm (BOOM), or a relevant sole practitioner (SP). (January 2021)
See here.
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February 23, 2021
Transparency International has published the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (28 January 2021)
See here.
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February 19, 2021
Law Society of Scotland: Anti-Money Laundering Supervisory Report 2021
The report provides a review of the Society’s AML supervisory work, inspections, and regulatory action taken, including ten referrals to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) and one to the Crown Prosecution Service between January 2019 and August 2020. Trust and Company Service Provider activities give rise to a number of issues, and in excess 5,000 registered offices were provided, including ownership in B.V.I, Nigeria, China, Estonia, Korea, Seychelles and Singapore. Over 250 conveyances were linked to Politically Exposed Persons.
See here.
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February 16, 2021
Chartered Institute of Taxation Anti-Money Laundering Supervisory Risk Assessment
See here.
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February 10, 2021
Trust Registration – extension to non-taxpaying trusts – HMRC Guidance
See here.
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January 29, 2021
SRA Sectoral Risk Assessment – Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (updated 28 January 2021)
See here.
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January 29, 2021
National Crime Agency SARs Reporter Booklet, January 2021
See here.
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January 28, 2021
SRA updated summary of money laundering resources, including guidance on charging for customer due diligence. (28 January 2021)
See here.
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January 20, 2021
The Legal Sector Affinity Group has published draft updated guidance following the implementation of the 5th EU AML directive in January 2020
Published in draft form, pending approval from HM Treasury.
See here.
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January 04, 2021
Office of Financial Sanctions (OFSI) notice of changes to sanctions regimes which will now be implemented through UK regulations
See here.
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December 18, 2020
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – Update: COVID-19-Related Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks
See here.
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December 18, 2020
National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2020
The latest UK Government’s national risk assessment was released on 17 December 2020. The risk of money laundering in the legal sector remains high. The assessment notes that the risk of these services being exploited by criminals increases when legal professionals take a tick box approach to compliance. The risk of terrorist financing in the sector is low.
Estate agency and letting services are assessed as medium risk and again the risk of terrorist financing in the sector is low.
See here.
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December 16, 2020
Overseas Territories: adopting publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership – policy paper
See here.
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December 11, 2020
Report on Trade-Based Money Laundering by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and The Egmont Group
See here.
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December 04, 2020
Law Society guidance: End of transition period guidance: anti-money laundering
See here.
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December 01, 2020
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation: Get ready for the end of the transition period – OFSI
See here.
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November 25, 2020
SRA report on Anti-Money Laundering Visits 2019-2020
(published 25 November 2020)
See here.
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November 23, 2020
SRA Risk Outlook 2020/21
(Published 23 November 2020)
See here.
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November 11, 2020
SRA Tax adviser guidance
If the change in definition to tax advisers that came into force on 10 January 2020 brought your firm into scope of the Money Laundering Regulations, you must tell the SRA before 10 January 2021.
See guidance here.
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November 09, 2020
National Crime Agency- updated Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Glossary Codes
See here.
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October 28, 2020
Treasury Committee Call for Evidence for inquiry into Economic Crime
The Committee will review the UK’s anti-money laundering and the sanctions regimes, including:
- The work of OPBAS and the professional body AML supervisors
- The impact of the FinCEN papers
- Corporate liability for economic crime
- The work of Companies House
See here.
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October 27, 2020
Sanctions (EU Exit) (Consequential Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 – House of Lords Library paper
See here.
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October 15, 2020
Money laundering: understanding risks and taking action for estate agency and letting agency businesses – GOV.UK
See here.
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October 12, 2020
House of Commons Library briefing paper: Economic crime in the UK
See here.
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October 09, 2020
Financial sanctions update: OFSI publishes latest annual review 2019-2020
See here.
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September 16, 2020
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020
The amendments relate principally to beneficial ownership and trusts, and to Brexit. Reg. 3 contains an exclusion for customers that are publicly listed companies from the duty to take measures to understand a customer’s ownership structure and to clarify the provision confirming that identity can be verified electronically.
See here.
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September 04, 2020
Council of Europe Report: Money laundering and terrorism financing trends in MONEYVAL jurisdictions during the COVID-19 crisis
The report contains information on pandemic-related typologies and notes that most countries reported that due to pandemic and remote working FI and DNFBP supervisors experienced challenges in conducting on-site supervisions. Onsite controls have been postposed, the authorities favouring off-site and desk-based reviews. The supervisors’ efforts have been placed in ensuring that the off-site supervisory activities are maintained and, when possible, reinforced.
For sensitive information, such as client file reviews, the authorities have opted to either receive client files through a secure cloud portal or other electronic means or reviewing these documents remotely e.g. through the shared screen facility offered by video conferencing.
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August 19, 2020
Understanding risks and taking action for Trust or Company Service Providers
HMRC guidance for Trust and Company Service Providers (TCSPs) in carrying out their own money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.
See here.
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August 13, 2020
HM Treasury AML and CTF Supervision report 2018-19
See here.
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August 06, 2020
JMLSG guidance on pooled client accounts (following the consultation in May 2020)
See here.
-
August 03, 2020
Basel AML Index: 9th Public Edition
The Index ranks money laundering and terrorist financing risks around the world.
See here.
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July 10, 2020
Property and registration fraud | The Law Society
The Law Society has issued an updated Practice Note on Property and registration fraud, see here.
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June 22, 2020
Updated SRA Transparency Guidance
See here.
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June 18, 2020
FCA fines Commerzbank London £37,805,400 over anti-money laundering failures
The Final Notice contains some points to note for professional services firms generally. There were no suggestions of money laundering taking place. Breaches included a significant backlog of refreshing CDD checks due to understaffing, leading to an exceptions process which was inadequately understood. A file review of CDD by Compliance failed to identify failures over the risks associated with clients that had an “element of state ownership (in high risk jurisdictions), and a number of politically-exposed individuals on their board”. There were multiple failures in relation to PEPs and sanctions screening, and in identifying beneficial ownership, in many cases being too willing to accept responses and information from the customer without independently verifying or challenging them. See here.
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June 09, 2020
SRA Business plan and Budget 2020-21
SRA Draft Business Plan and Budget, November 2020 to October 2021 – this proposes a 20 per cent increase on spending on anti-money laundering supervision with visits to all high-risk firms on a three-year rolling basis, along with visiting a sample of lower risk firms. Every month the SRA will call in and analyse a sample of firms’ AML policies, procedures and controls, or their risk assessments, and they are planning to undertake a thematic review into tax advice. See here.
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May 27, 2020
Money laundering supervision for estate agency or letting agency businesses
Updated with information for letting agency businesses, to help them decide if they need to register for money laundering supervision. See here.
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May 18, 2020
Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) consultation on Pooled Client Accounts
See here.
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May 15, 2020
European Commission Delegated Regulation amending the list of high risk jurisdictions
See here.
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May 11, 2020
Commission steps up fight against money laundering
European Commission Press Release setting out an Action Plan, and details of the revised list of third countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks. (We understand the list will be formally confirmed within a month.)
See here.
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May 06, 2020
FATF publication – COVID-19-related Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks and Policy Responses.
See here.
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April 15, 2020
Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) – Advisory Note: COVID-19 –and preventing Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing in Legal Practices
Note that this advisory note does not have HM Treasury approval. See here.
-
April 06, 2020
NCA publishes its Annual Plan for 2020
The National Crime Agency has published its Annual Plan for 2020/21 and the National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2020. See here.
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March 31, 2020
OFSI imposed £20.4 million penalties on Standard Chartered Bank
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, has imposed two monetary penalties totalling £20.4 million on Standard Chartered Bank for breaching financial sanctions by making loans to what was considered to be a subsidiary of a Russian bank in breach of The Ukraine (European Union Financial Sanctions) (No.3) Regulations 2014. See here.
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March 27, 2020
FATF Guidance on Digital Identity
Links to the full report and a brief summary (March 2020)
See here.
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March 20, 2020
OPBAS publishes report on progress and themes from 2019
The FCA’s Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) published a report on 19 March 2020 on progress by professional body supervisors in the legal and accountancy sector. The report recommends more enforcement action.
See here.
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March 09, 2020
SRA guidance and warnings on Money Laundering
See here.
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February 26, 2020
HM Treasury Advisory Notice: Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing controls in higher risk jurisdictions: Requirement to apply Enhanced Due Diligence for higher risk jurisdictions
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 require the UK regulated sector to apply enhanced customer due diligence in relation to high-risk countries. HM Treasury draws the regulated sectors’ attention to the latest publication by FATF on high risk jurisdictions.
See here.
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January 27, 2020
Technical consultation: Fifth Money Laundering Directive and Trust Registration Service
The changes introduced by The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019, implementing the Fifth Money Laundering Directive, came into force on 10 January 2020 but did not include changes required to the registration of the beneficial ownership information of trusts. The government is now holding a detailed technical consultation on extending the Trust Registration Service to include the draft legislation and proposals on the types of express trusts that will be required to register, data collection and sharing, and penalties.
See here.
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February 03, 2020
Sanctions – OFSI guidance updated to address Brexit issues
See here.
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February 06, 2020
Hajiyeva v National Crime Agency [2020] EWCA Civ 108 (05 February 2020)
Unexplained Wealth Order upheld by Court of Appeal. The decision examined the meanings of “politically exposed person” and “state-owned enterprise”.
See here.
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January 23, 2020
Transparency International CPI 2019 released
See here.
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January 10, 2020
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019: Legal Sector Affinity Group summary of changes
See here.
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December 23, 2019
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 implementing the Fifth Money Laundering Directive came into force on 10 January 2020
See here.
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December 19, 2019
Law Society advice note: 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive
See here.
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December 18, 2019
Law Society advice note – Suspicious Activity Reports – (updated)
See here.
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December 17, 2019
Am I dealing with a sanctioned entity? – OFSI Blog post
See here.
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August 02, 2019
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing: supervision report 2017-18
HM Treasury has published its annual supervision report. The report contains details of penalties imposed by supervisors. Note the comment that ‘[all] supervisors should continue to ensure, in accordance with the increased trend for levying penalties, that proportionate, dissuasive and effective sanctions are applied for violations of AML/CTF and sanctions obligations’.
See here.
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December 13, 2019
FATF Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers
See here.
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December 12, 2019
SRA | SRA Update Issue 75, AML risk assessments | Solicitors Regulation Authority
The SRA will be writing to those firms captured by the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations requiring their Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) to sign a declaration confirming that their practice has a firm-wide money laundering risk assessment in place. The deadline for responding is 31 January, 2020.
See here.
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December 11, 2019
SARs in Action, third issue published by the National Crime Agency
This contains new glossary codes for DAML (consent), returning money to the victim of a crime, modern slavery/human trafficking, illegal lotteries and virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies.
See here.
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July 26, 2019
N v The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc [2019] EWHC 1770 (Comm)
A bank, suspecting money laundering, was entitled to close the accounts of its customer, a money service business (MSB), without notice. A secondary claim in negligence failed. ‘[The] interests and reputation of N and of the Bank are only part of the picture. The wider, public, interests of the prevention of crime and the protection of the victims of crime are a further crucial part of the picture.
See here.
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July 25, 2019
Report From The Commission To The European Parliament And The Council on the assessment of the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing affecting the internal market and relating to cross-border activities
The Commission’s latest supranational report identifies professional football, free ports, investor citizenship and residence schemes (‘golden passports/visas’), FinTech, exchange platforms and wallet providers as new sectors posing risks.
See here.
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July 16, 2019
HM Government’s Economic Crime Plan 2019-2022
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November 28, 2019
SRA Guidance on The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017
The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 has been updated.
See here.
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June 28, 2019
FATF Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach for Legal Professionals
This guidance follows the consultation in February 2019.
See here.
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November 07, 2019
UK Financial Intelligence Unit Suspicious Activity Reports Annual Report 2019
See here.
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June 24, 2019
Saab & Anor v Angate Consulting Ltd & Ors [2019] EWHC 1558 (Comm)
Confidentiality, fraud and anti-money laundering disclosures, public interest and compulsion of law.
See here.
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June 18, 2019
Anti-money laundering: the SARs regime – Law Commission report
See here.
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October 29, 2019
SRA Risk Outlook 2019/20
The SRA’s Risk Outlook 2019/20 has been published. This has a particular focus on anti-money laundering and the need for firmwide risk assessments, but also a variety of other topics, including non-disclosure agreements, investment schemes and cyber risk.
See here.
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October 29, 2019
SRA – updated warning notice: Compliance with the money laundering regulations – firm risk assessment
The SRA has reminded firms of the requirement to keep their firm risk assessment up to date. It has expressed concern that many firms have not taken account of the SRA’s sectoral risk assessment, fail properly to address the risks posed by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and high risk jurisdictions, and are based on templates with prepopulated specimen text. Around 20% were non-compliant.
See here.
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October 28, 2019
HM Treasury monetary penalty of £146,341 imposed on Telia Carrier UK Limited
HM Treasury monetary penalty of £146,341 imposed on Telia Carrier UK Limited for a breach of financial sanctions regulations, demonstrating that ‘economic resources’ may cover a wide variety of tangible and intangible resources and can be provided directly or indirectly.
See here.
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October 25, 2019
At Your Service – report by Transparency International
See here.
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October 23, 2019
HM Treasury Advisory Notice_ Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing controls in higher risk jurisdictions
See here.
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May 23, 2019
International Bar Association and the Secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Report of the Task Force on the Role of Lawyers and International Commercial Structures
See here.
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May 07, 2019
SRA Warning Notice – Compliance with the money laundering regulations – firm risk assessment
SRA publish warning notice, see here.
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May 07, 2019
SRA thematic review of trust and company service providers
See here.
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May 02, 2019
Updated HMRC Estate agency guidance for money laundering supervision
The section on PEPs has been updated.
See here.
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April 17, 2019
Government consultation on the transposition of the fifth money laundering directive
See here.
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September 11, 2019
Law Society issued/updated Advice notes
The Law Society issued/updated Advice notes in the following areas on 9 September 2019:
Anti-money laundering in the property market, see here.
Property fraud, see here.
Legal professional privilege, see here.
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August 22, 2019
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has published the second issue of its SARs in Action magazine
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March 20, 2019
SRA puts firms on notice for money laundering compliance checks
SRA have said they will be carrying out rigorous checks on law firms to make sure they are meeting their anti-money laundering obligations. See here.
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March 11, 2019
Anti-money laundering supervision and sanctions implementations
Treasury have published their Committee Inquiry report: Anti-money laundering supervision and sanctions implementations. See here.
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March 08, 2019
FATF draft guidance on risk based approach for legal professionals
See here.
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March 06, 2019
List of businesses for tax year 2018 to 2019 that have not complied with the 2017 money laundering regulations
HMRC have published details of businesses that do not comply with the 2017 regulations. See here.
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August 02, 2019
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing: supervision report 2017-18
HM Treasury has published its annual supervision report. The report contains details of penalties imposed by supervisors. Note the comment that ‘[all] supervisors should continue to ensure, in accordance with the increased trend for levying penalties, that proportionate, dissuasive and effective sanctions are applied for violations of AML/CTF and sanctions obligations’.
See here.
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March 04, 2019
Estate agents targeted in money laundering crackdown
Estate agents have been hit with unannounced inspections as part of a week-long crackdown on money laundering in the property industry, HMRC has revealed. See here.
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February 27, 2019
No Rest for the Wicked: Report by the Royal United Services Institute
See here.
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February 14, 2019
European Commission adopts new list of third countries with weak anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regimes
See here.
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January 29, 2019
Transparency International release the Corruption Perceptions Index 2018
See here.
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January 07, 2019
Criminal Finances Act 2017 – The Law Society – Practice Note: guidance approved by the Chancellor
See here.
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December 21, 2018
National Crime Agency SARs Annual Report 2018
See here.
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December 14, 2018
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018
These make minor amendments to The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.
See here.
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December 07, 2018
FATF Mutual Evaluation Report of the United Kingdom – 2018
See here.
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November 07, 2018
Wilsons Solicitors LLP v Revenue & Customs (PROCEDURE : Other) [2018] UKFTT 627 (TC) (22 October 2018)
HMRC was not entitled, by serving an information notice, to obtain solicitors’ records kept under the Money Laundering Regulations.
See here.
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November 05, 2018
Sixth European Anti-Money Laundering Directive
This will implement new jail sentences and sanctions for money laundering.
Note: The UK, Ireland and Denmark are not taking part in the adoption of this directive.
See here.
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November 02, 2018
HM Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy
See here.
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November 01, 2018
Money-laundering crackdown on law firms
Security minister Ben Wallace pledges to focus on where illegal cash is spent (Article in The Guardian).
See here.
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October 12, 2018
Sanctions policy if there’s no Brexit deal – GOV.UK
Technical Notice for leaving EU with ‘no deal’.
DEXEU have released a technical notice explaining the sanctions preparations for a ‘no deal’ scenario.
See here.
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October 10, 2018
Lonsdale v National Westminster Bank Plc [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB)
Disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report ordered under CPR 31.14 in an action for defamation and breach of contract. Suspicious Activity Reports are subject to qualified, not absolute, privilege. Discussion as to entitlement to receive copies following a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998 (pre-GDPR).
See here.
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October 10, 2018
National Crime Agency v Mrs A [2018] EWHC 2534 (Admin)
Judgment in failed application to set aside Unexplained Wealth Order. The judgment will be of particular interest to AML compliance practitioners for its analysis of the definition of “state-owned enterprises” in relation to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
See here.
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October 10, 2018
SRA | Have your say through money laundering survey | Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Institute for Criminal Policy Research Survey on the Role of Professional Enablers and Money Launderers: the SRA is encouraging practitioners to participate in an anonymous survey.
See here.
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October 05, 2018
OFSI publishes Annual Review
See here.
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October 03, 2018
High Court dismisses ‘unexplained wealth’ challenge | News | Law Society Gazette
See here.
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September 25, 2018
Responding to a financial crime investigation – The Law Society
See here.
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August 29, 2018
SRA | Money laundering survey | Solicitors Regulation Authority
The SRA is carrying out a money laundering survey to be completed by MLROs.
See here.
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August 24, 2018
Draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill – GOV.UK
The draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill was published in July and as currently drafted, involves a new beneficial ownership register of overseas entities that own UK property.
See here.
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August 09, 2018
FCA publishes Anti Money Laundering Annual report 17/18
See here: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/annual-report-2017-18-anti-money-laundering.pdf
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August 03, 2018
Concealment of Beneficial Ownership – The Egmont Group
Report by FATF and the Egmont Group on Concealment of Beneficial Ownership.
See here.
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July 27, 2018
FATF report: Professional money launderers, examining the techniques and tools used
See here.
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July 26, 2018
The Companies We Keep | Global Witness
Global Witness report highlighting weaknesses in UK company registration.
See here.
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August 01, 2018
Penalties and appeals for money laundering supervision – GOV.UK
HM Revenue and Customs has introduced a penalty administration charge for all Anti Money Laundering Supervision penalties issued from 25 July 2018.
For registration penalties, such as a failure to register or notify us of changes to your business, the charge will be up to £350, in addition to the amount of the penalty.
For compliance penalties, such as breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations in respect of customer due diligence, policies, controls and procedures and record keeping, the charge will be up to £1,500, in addition to the amount of the penalty.
See here.
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July 24, 2018
Draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill
Foreign companies owning UK properties will have to reveal their ultimate owners on the world’s first public register. Proposed sanctions include up to 5 years imprisonment.
See here.
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July 23, 2018
Updated Law Society guidance on the European Commission list of High Risk Third Countries
See here.
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July 23, 2018
Law Commission: Anti-Money Laundering: the SARS Regime consultation paper
See here.
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June 25, 2018
The 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which amends the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 19 June 2018.
The Member States must transpose this Directive by 10 January 2020.
See here.
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June 11, 2018
Evidence submitted by The Law Society to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee inquiry on Economic Crime
See here.
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May 31, 2018
MONEYVAL has published its General Activity Report for 2017
The Council of Europe anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing body MONEYVAL has published its General Activity Report for 2017, though references to lawyers are (refreshingly, perhaps) few and far between.
See here.
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May 25, 2018
Guidance updated: Corporate offences for failing to prevent criminal facilitation of tax evasion
HMRC have updated the Guidance to include information about self-reporting a company or partnership that’s facilitated criminal tax evasion. See here.
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May 24, 2018
The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 has received Royal Assent
See here.
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May 24, 2018
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report – Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK
See here.
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May 23, 2018
HMRC has published a Report on Tackling Financial Crime in the Supervised Sectors 2015-2017
See here.
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May 03, 2018
The National Crime Agency has published SARS Regime Good Practice: Frequently Asked Questions
See here.
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April 30, 2018
Scope of the ‘reasonable excuse’ defence – The Law Society
The Law Society has issued guidance on the reasonable excuse defence.
See here.
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April 30, 2018
Legal professional privilege: disclosing suspicions to your Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) – The Law Society
The Law Society has issued guidance on LPP when disclosing suspicions to an MLRO.
See here.
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April 24, 2018
Anti-money laundering: MEPs vote to shed light on the true owners of companies | News | European Parliament
Fifth Money Laundering Directive
The European Parliament has published a press release announcing its adoption of a proposal for a fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (MLD5). See here.
The text of the Directive is here.
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April 09, 2018
Economic Crime inquiry – UK Parliament
The Treasury Committee is seeking evidence for an enquiry into the anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions regimes.
See here.
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March 20, 2018
Summary of changes from draft to final AML guidance – The Law Society
The Law Society has now published a summary of changes from the draft to final AML guidance.
See here.
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March 19, 2018
SRA | Risk assessment | Solicitors Regulation Authority
The SRA has published its sectoral risk assessment which should form the basis for firms’ own risk assessments along with the national risk assessment and knowledge of their services, clients and delivery channels.
See here.
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March 12, 2018
HM Treasury’s sixth Report on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing supervision
See here.
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March 09, 2018
Anti-money laundering guidance – The Law Society
The anti-money laundering (AML) guidance produced by the legal sector AML supervisors, including the Law Society, has now received the approval of HM Treasury.
See here.
For a comparison with the original draft guidance see here.
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March 02, 2018
SRA | Money laundering review finds most law firms doing well but urges others to comply | Solicitors Regulation Authority
SRA Thematic Review, Preventing Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, March 2018
See here.
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March 02, 2018
SRA | Ethics guidance | Solicitors Regulation Authority
SRA Ethics guidance on The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.
See here.
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February 22, 2018
Corruption Perceptions Index 2017
Transparency International have published the Corruption Perceptions Index 2017.
See here.
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January 26, 2018
The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) and the FCA have published the Sourcebook for professional body anti-money laundering supervisors
See here.
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January 22, 2018
SRA | Money laundering regulations | Solicitors Regulation Authority
See here.
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December 20, 2017
The Oversight of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Supervision Regulations 2017
This instrument makes provision for the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA”) oversight of the professional bodies which have responsibility for supervising compliance with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (the “MLRs”).
See here.
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December 19, 2017
The National Crime Agency has updated its SARs Online User Guidance
See here.
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December 18, 2017
JUST Newsroom – Strengthened EU rules to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing – European Commission
The European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement on the Commission’s proposal to further strengthen EU rules on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
See here.
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December 18, 2017
MEPs back sweeping recommendations of special inquiry into tax crimes | News | European Parliament
The European Parliament’s Special Inquiry Committee into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Evasion has made 211 recommendations for reform.
See here.
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December 18, 2017
New EU-wide penalties for money laundering | News | European Parliament
New EU-wide penalties for money laundering are being proposed.
See here.
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December 11, 2017
The first ever EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions was agreed on 5 December 2017 by the Finance Ministers of EU Member States.
This is the start of a continuing process.
See here.
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November 28, 2017
HMRC has published draft guidance on the Trust Registration Service, revising when trustees need to disclose the identities of beneficiaries
See here.
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October 31, 2017
Legal Services Board opinion on the regulatory function of AML supervisors
The Legal Services Board has published a letter to the SRA in which it sets out its views on the regulatory function of supervisors under the AML regime, concluding that the guidance published by the Legal Sector Affinity Group, for which Treasury approval is being sought, does not fall within the definition of regulatory arrangements.
See here.
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October 27, 2017
SARs Annual Report published by the National Crime Agency
See here.
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October 27, 2017
National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2017
See here.
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October 20, 2017
Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill Introduced into House of Lords
The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 18 October 2017. This will ensure that when the UK leaves the EU, the UK can continue to impose, update, and lift sanctions and AML regimes.
See here
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September 21, 2017
Law Society publish draft AML guidance
The anti-money laundering (AML) legal supervisors have agreed draft legal sector anti-money laundering guidance taking account of the changes introduced by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which came into force on 26 June 2017.
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September 15, 2017
Europol has published a report, From Suspicion To Action – Converting Financial Intelligence Into Greater Operational Impact
Europol has published a report, From Suspicion To Action – Converting Financial Intelligence Into Greater Operational Impact. This notes that Just 10% of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) are further investigated after collection, a figure that is unchanged since 2006. Over 65% of reports are received by just two Member States – the UK and the Netherlands. Reporting on terrorist financing accounted for less than 1% of reports received by FIUs in 2013-14 (the most recent figures available).
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September 04, 2017
Solicitors urged to check frozen asset list
Solicitors have been urged to check the HM Treasury frozen assets review to make sure they are not holding monies belonging to a client that is subject to financial sanctions. See the news release from the SRA.
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August 21, 2017
European Parliament draft recommendation to the Council and the Commission
European Parliament draft recommendation to the Council and the Commission following the inquiry on Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion calls for further legislation. It seeks change so that legal professional privilege will not inhibit suspicious transaction reporting, and proposes that lawyers advising non-residents should be legally responsible when designing tax-planning and money laundering schemes. It also proposes to discourage accounting and auditing firms in designing offshore structures. See here.
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August 21, 2017
Basel AML Index Report 2017 published
The Basel Institute on Governance has published the sixth edition of the Basel Anti-Money Laundering Report ranking countries according to their risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. See here.
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August 14, 2017
CCAB publish Anti Money Laundering Guidance for the Accountancy sector
CCAB have published draft guidance for all entities providing audit, accountancy, tax advisory, insolvency or related services following the 2017 Regulations. See here.
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August 10, 2017
HM Treasury/Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation publish guidance
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, have published guidance outlining the obligations under financial sanctions as well as OFSI’s approach to licensing and compliance issues.
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August 08, 2017
The European Union Financial Sanctions (Amendment of Information Provisions) Regulations 2017 (‘the regulations’) come into force on 8 August
The European Union Financial Sanctions (Amendment of Information Provisions) Regulations 2017 (‘the regulations’) come into force on 8 August.
The regulations will require ‘independent legal professionals’ and other ‘relevant businesses or professionals’ to inform the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) of known or suspected financial sanctions breaches.
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August 01, 2017
CLC publish Practice Note on Money Laundering Regulations 2017
The CLC have published a Practice Note highlighting the changes introduced by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. The legal sector regulators will be publishing shortly joint AML guidance in draft form which is subject to approval by HM Treasury.
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July 26, 2017
SRA publishes their Risk Outlook 2017/2018
The SRA Risk Outlook 2017/18 addresses concerns about increased cyber-attacks on law firms including email modification, dubious investment schemes – a new priority risk this year, banking facilities contrary to rule 14.5 of the SRA Accounts Rules 2017. The number of anti money laundering-related matters reported to the SRA remained static at around 175, with one third relating to conveyancing; the level of Suspicious Activity Reports from the legal sector has increased for the first time in seven years.
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July 24, 2017
Anti-money laundering supervisory review: consultation
The Government have published their Anti-money laundering supervisory review: consultation.
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July 14, 2017
Financial Conduct Authority publish guidance on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) under 2017 Regulations
See Financial Conduct Authority guidance on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) under regulation 48(1) of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.
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July 12, 2017
The Law Society’s Quick guide to the Money Laundering Regulations 2017
This quick guide provides a brief overview of the key issues firms will need to be aware of and the changes they will have to implement in order to comply with the regulations.
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July 06, 2017
New EU rules and risk analysis about money laundering and terrorism financing
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-detail.cfm?item_id=81272
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July 04, 2017
European Supervisory Authorities publishes their final Guidelines on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism
See here.
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June 30, 2017
National Crime Agency publishes 2017 analysis of serious and organised crime threats
See here.
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June 23, 2017
Law Society Anti-Money Laundering Practice Note update
The Law Society has published a note setting out its plans for legal sector AML guidance
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June 23, 2017
The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 have now been enacted with changes.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/692/pdfs/uksi_20170692_en.pdf
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April 28, 2017
Public consultation on sanctions legislation
HM Government launches a public consultation on its proposals for domestic sanctions legislation, closing on 23 June 2017. For more information see here.
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April 28, 2017
Criminal Finances Bill receives Royal Assent
See here.
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April 11, 2017
Court of Appeal decision reviewing the consent regime
The National Crime Agency v N & Anor [2017] EWCA Civ 253
Court of Appeal decision reviewing the consent regime under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The court emphasised that the grant of consent by the National Crime Agency (NCA) does not imply NCA approval of the proposed act, that funds are clean or that no criminality is involved. The NCA stated that ‘in cases of urgency it can and does in appropriate cases move considerably faster than within 7 days and indeed potentially within hours’. In appropriate cases, it is ‘desirable that the need for urgency is communicated to the NCA and that it responds promptly in so far as it can do so’.
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April 27, 2017
Changes to requirements about people with significant control (PSC) information
See here for the changes to UK AML measures coming in on 26 June 2017.
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April 10, 2017
Government issues guidelines on Monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions
The Government processes on the issue of monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions. See here.
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March 29, 2017
Secret companies allow corrupt cash to flood the biggest real estate markets – Transparency International
http://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/secret_companies_allow_corrupt_cash_to_
flood_the_biggest_real_estate_market
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March 17, 2017
EU proposal for amending the fourth Money Laundering Directive
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March 16, 2017
HM Treasury publishes the new draft Money Laundering Regulations and the response to the Review of the Supervisory Regime
See the press release here.
See the consultation here.
See the supervisory regime response here.
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February 21, 2017
The process for imposing monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions: consultation
See here.
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February 21, 2017
National Crime Agency – SARs Reporter Booklet February 2017
See here.
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February 10, 2017
Moneyval Mutual Evaluation Report on the Isle of Man
See here for Fifth Round Mutual Evaluation Report for the Isle of Man.
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January 30, 2017
Tackling tax evasion: Government guidance for the corporate offence of failure to prevent the criminal facilitation of tax evasion.
See here.
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December 05, 2016
FATF Mutual Evaluation Report of the USA
http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/mer4/MER-United-States-2016-Executive-Summary.pdf
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December 05, 2016
A critical analysis of the UK’s register of Persons with Significant Control (PSC) by Global Witness
https://www.globalwitness.org/en-gb/blog/what-does-uk-beneficial-ownership-data-show-us/
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November 14, 2016
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy publishes discussion paper
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has launched a consultation on the requirement to maintain a central register of beneficial ownership information of corporate and other legal entities under the Fourth Money Laundering Directive.
See here.
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October 18, 2016
Criminal Finances Bill 13 October 2016
The government have published a new bill on Criminal Finances. See it here.
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October 12, 2016
Financial Conduct Authority Final order imposing a financial penalty of £17,900 on Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and prohibiting him from exercising specified compliance functions.
See here.
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September 21, 2016
NCA Guidance on submitting better quality Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
See here.
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September 21, 2016
SRA warns law firms about investment schemes
See here.
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September 19, 2016
Transposition of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive
See here.
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August 16, 2016
NCA publishes SARs Annual Report
The National Crime Agency published their annual Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for 2015 on 21 July 2016. See here.
SARs from independent legal professionals increased by 6.01% on last year (from 3,610 to 3,827). Of this total, solicitors submitted 3,461 SARs for this reporting period, slightly up on last year’s 3,328. This was by 1,337 individual reporters. 75.52% (or 2,614) of SARs received from solicitors were consent requests, which represents 17.8% of all consent requests received.
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July 29, 2016
The EU’s response on CFT
Click here to view and download.
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July 28, 2016
EU strengthens transparency rules to tackle terrorism financing
EU strengthens transparency rules to tackle terrorism financing. Click here to view and download.
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July 28, 2016
The Law Society’s response on proposed changes to the AML legislation
The Law Society has prepared a response including discussion on proposed changes to the AML legislation, including the Consent regime. Click here to view and download it.
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July 28, 2016
Home Office and HMT’s action plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance
The Home Office and HMT have produced an Action plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance, including a call for information on proposed changes to the legislation. Click here to view and download it.
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July 28, 2016
The Law Society’s response to the HM Treasury consultation on the AML and CFT supervisory regime
The Law Society has prepared a response to the HM Treasury consultation on the AML and CFT supervisory regime. Click here to view and download it.
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May 12, 2016
SRA Anti-Money Laundering Thematic Review Report
The SRA has now published the report documenting the findings from it’s AML Thematic Review undertaken last year.
Click here to view and download it.
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May 10, 2016
ICIJ publishes Offshore Leaks Database
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have published their Offshore Leaks Database, showing who is behind almost 320,000 offshore companies and trusts from the Panama Papers and the Offshore Leaks investigations.