The AML crackdown continues, this time targeting one of Britain’s biggest banks

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched an investigation into Barclays for suspected ongoing failings in compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) systems.

The Financial Times reported that the FCA issued a notice last spring requiring an independent review of the bank’s financial crime detection and prevention systems. The review was triggered by concerns over the amount of know-your-customer (KYC) and AML cases at Barclays.

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The new offences of failure to prevent fraud are likely to shake up corporate compliance for all UK business. How will they work in practice?

The UK government have announced they are pushing ahead with a game-changing new regulation to expand the ‘failure to prevent’ family of offences to failure to prevent fraud. 

Proposed amendments could even see corporate officers jailed if they take a decision, or fail to take a decision, that could lead to economic crime such as fraud, false accounting or money laundering being committed.

Failure to prevent encompasses a wide array of compliance failures, from not having the right policies in place, to a lack of procedures to even training courses that aren’t effective in delivering the right information to employees. 

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Download our detailed guide: “Failure to Prevent: A Guide to Compliance” and find out more about the family of failure to prevent offences, including the new failure to prevent fraud offence currently going through the UK parliament.

Failure to prevent fraud will apply to all businesses, and require them to have certain procedures in place, or face criminal liability.

This free guide includes:

  • What is failure to prevent?
  • What’s new in failure to prevent?
  • Why is failure to prevent fraud being considered and who will it cover?
  • Failure to prevent fraud in detail
  • Failure to prevent tax evasion
  • Failure to prevent bribery
  • The future of failure to prevent

Download your guide to failure to prevent now and stay on top of this game-changing new regulation that’s set to shake up corporate compliance.

Download the guide

The ‘failure to prevent’ concept is being expanded to fraud, false accounting and money laundering

The UK government have announced they are pushing ahead with a game-changing new regulation to expand the ‘failure to prevent’ family of offences to failure to prevent fraud. 

The announcement came during Parliamentary debate over the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill which aims for a wide-reaching attempt to tackle all aspects of economic crime, along with reform of Companies House.

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The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has fined the conveyancing firm, Ferguson Bricknell Solicitors, £20,000 ($24,400) for falling short of its anti-money laundering (AML) obligations. The firm also had to pay £1,350 for the cost of the SRA probe. The fine was issued under a regulatory settlement agreement following an investigation by the SRA.

The investigation found that the firm did not have a compliant, practice-wide, anti-money laundering (AML) risk assessment in place until July 29, 2022, and also failed to fully assess its product/services risks, specifically those associated with conveyancing and controlling client money, which accounted for 75% of its fee income. The risks associated with conveyancing should have been addressed in the assessment provided when the investigation began.

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UK law firms subject to the Money Laundering Regulations are required to establish an independent audit function to examine, evaluate and make recommendations regarding the adequacy and effectiveness of their practice’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policies, controls, and procedures.

Our guide will help you understand the five main stages of an external independent audit.

Download the guide

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From new ESG regulations to a crackdown on bribery, rapid fluctuations in crypto currency, changes to the regulated sector and the ongoing conflict in Europe demanding a laser-like focus on the supply chain, 2023 looks set to demand even more from compliance professionals.

We have created an in-depth guide to everything compliance in 2023. The guide covers the top ten items you can expect to see in your regulatory inbox, with tips on next steps.

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The crypto currency market soundly collapsed in 2022, but crypto currencies linger on. FTX, once valued at $32 billion, went bankrupt as its founder was arrested for perpetrating one of the biggest frauds in history. 

The market began to take a nosedive after Celsius Network, a former cryptocurrency lending company, announced it was pausing all withdrawals and transfers between accounts in order to “honor, over time, withdrawal obligations.” Celsius has nearly 2 million customers and held more than $10 billion in assets.

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The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its latest plenary at the end of October 2022 and updated the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring for money laundering and terrorist financing concerns. Jurisdictions on this list are working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes with regard to countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. These countries have committed to work to resolve the deficiencies within the agreed timeframes. The FATF does not require enhanced due diligence measures to be applied to these jurisdictions and does not wish to cut off entire classes of customers, but calls for the application of a risk-based approach for businesses working with these jurisdictions.

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The key challenges of AML compliance in Latin America and the Caribbean

Whether conducting risk assessments or reviewing client due diligence, it is vital to understand the risks and responsibilities of money laundering challenges for different jurisdictions.

In this article, VinciWorks considers the key AML challenges and laws in Trinidad and Tobago, and what organisations should consider when assessing customer, geographic or matter risk.

For more on the key AML risks and challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean, download our free guide to compliance.

Click here to download a free copy.

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