The Fourth Money Laundering Directive updates and expands anti-money laundering laws across the European Union. Unlike GDPR, which will automatically come into force, updating the AML regime requires each national parliament to transpose the regulations into local law.
In the UK, this means updating the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. The government completed their consultation in April and published a draft of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 to be laid before parliament. The EU stated that the Fourth Directive must be in force in every country by 26 June 2017.
However, the general election called by Theresa May has thrown that timetable into disarray. The new parliament won’t meet until sometime between 14 to 21 June, leaving barely days before the deadline.
Will the UK miss the deadline?
Most likely, although perhaps not by much. The draft statutory instrument has been published and is ready to be considered by parliament. Given the long lead-in time of the Fourth Directive, the consultations and lack of particularly controversial measures, even a change of government is not likely to disrupt the process too much.
Broadly, we know what the new requirements of the Fourth Directive are, and how the UK plans to implement them. While the official change won’t take place until the 2017 Regulations is law, there is every reason to think this will happen sooner rather than later.
What is VinciWorks doing in its AML training?
We have already updated all of our AML courses for the Fourth Money Laundering Directive. The changes were not extensive. Other than some basic amendments where we referred to the directive itself, most of the changes were in the CDD section to switch from the prescriptive approach of the third directive (particularly for simplified and enhanced due diligence) to the risk-based approach of the fourth directive.
We will change references from “Money Laundering Regulations 2007” to “Money Laundering Regulations 2017” once the new Regulations have been finalised, and make any final necessary tweaks to the course content at that time.
The following courses have been updated:
- Anti-Money Laundering Advanced Course
- Anti-Money Laundering Fundamentals Course
- Anti-Money Laundering Global Course
- Anti-Money Laundering: A Practical Overview
- Anti-Money Laundering for Financial Services
- Anti-Money Laundering for Accountants
- Anti-Money Laundering for Estate Agents
- Anti-Money Laundering for Sweden (all versions)
- AML 360°
Will there be new AML training from VinciWorks in 2017?
Yes! Our newest AML refresher course is currently in the works. The new course shifts the paradigm of anti-money laundering training and creates a brand new training experience. Users will be presented with a series of fully customisable scenarios that test their level of understanding, whilst imparting the latest changes of the Fourth Directive and beyond.
The course trains users to spot money laundering and terrorist financing before it occurs, testing their ability to do so with real-life scenarios that could be faced by any professional. Over a hundred available scenarios are specifically tailored to meet the AML requirements of a user’s job role, industry and jurisdiction.
Users who simply need an AML refresher can breeze through the course in as little as 10 minutes, demonstrating clear and precise understanding of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing obligations. On the other hand, users who are coming to the subject for the first time or need or want more will work through the scenario-based training in much greater detail, reading more in depth about AML concepts and the latest real-world cases.
VinciWorks currently has a suite of courses on anti-money laundering, including our AML 360 training. To find out more about our current and upcoming training on anti-money laundering, contact us using the form below.
Fourth Money Laundering Directive – free webinar recording
Over 200 law firms and organisations joined VinciWorks, together with expert Amy Bell, for a free webinar answering questions on the Fourth Directive and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. Amy is chair of the Law Society’s Money Laundering Task Force and the author of the Law Society’s e-learning and Toolkit on the Bribery Act. You can view a free recording of this webinar by completing a short form below.
