Money Laundering News Archives | Page 8 of 15

Money Laundering News Thought Leadership
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4 min read

Money laundering changes for suspicious activity reports and credit and financial institutions

Upcoming changes to the UK’s anti-money laundering regime – Part 2

In July 2021, HM Treasury launched a new AML consultation entitled ‘Amendments to the Money Laundering Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017’. This consultation outlined ways in which the government intended to amend the UK’s money laundering regulations (MLRs) with several time-sensitive updates. The planned updates are required to ensure that the UK continues to meet international AML standards, whilst also clarifying how the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) regime works.

The changes to the MLRs have been made through draft secondary legislation entitled ‘the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022’. Most of the measures in this SI will come into force on 1 September 2022, subject to parliamentary approval.

In this series of blog posts, we take a closer look at what these changes will mean for anti-money laundering compliance.

Money Laundering News SRA Thought Leadership
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2 min read

LSAG guidance approved by the HM Treasury

The Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) guidance has now been approved by HM Treasury, although this comes with some changes to the original guidance issued in 2021. This specific regulation sets out that when judging whether a legal practitioner or practice has committed an offence by not following the regulations, the court must decide whether the guidance has been followed. The LSAG guidance is an invaluable aid to those in the legal sector and has been written in light of changes to the Regulations. While an invaluable aid to those in the legal sector, the complex guidance is over 200 pages long.

What changes were made to the LSAG guidance?

The changes were generally minor, with many simply corrections or formatting changes. One of the more notable changes was updated content around the verification of the identities of beneficial owners. Under the latest guidance, the verification process for beneficial owners is expected to be of the same standard as a natural person. The new guidance also sees a move away from the EU’s high-risk third country list and towards the adoption of the UK’s own list. Lastly, there is some clarification on key terms such as what is deemed “an arrangement” with regards to the Proceeds of Crime Act and additional clarification on the defence of “adequate consideration”.

Core Concepts of the LSAG Guidance – VinciWorks’ Free Guide

VinciWorks has created a concise guide highlighting the core concepts of the LSAG guidance, including practical tips. The guide includes an introduction to the guidance, an overview of risk assessments, what you need to know about Client Due Diligence (CDD), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), and Simple Due Diligence (SDD), and how the use of technologies such as Omnitrack can be helpful in carrying out risk assessments, CDD, ongoing monitoring, and ‘just in time’ training.

Download guide

Money Laundering News Thought Leadership
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5 min read

Money laundering for payment providers and art market participants

Upcoming changes to the UK’s anti-money laundering regime – Part 1

In this series of blog posts, we take a closer look at what these changes will mean for anti-money laundering compliance.

Money Laundering News SRA Thought Leadership
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7 min read

Upcoming SRA AML survey: Make sure you’re prepared!

Andy Donovan, Managing Director and Founder of Compliance Office

On your marks, get set and complete your SRA AML Questionnaire!

The deadline for completing the mandatory SRA AML survey is 31 July. If your firm does work that falls within the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations 2017, your COLP should by now have received an email from the SRA asking you to complete a questionnaire.

All you need to do is follow the instructions provided and complete the survey by their deadline of 31 July.

The questionnaire itself is fairly straightforward, but here are a few tips to bear in mind:

Insider tips for completing the questionnaire

Is all your work subject to the Regulations?

On question 1, regarding the option to say whether or not you treat all work as being subject to the Regulations, take care and exercise caution when assuming that all of your work is within scope of the Regulations. It’s not possible to predict with absolute certainty how the SRA will follow up from this point but it seems likely that the SRA may use this question to help them decide whether to follow up with a visit. It would not be a good idea for the SRA’s starting point for a visit to be to “choose to visit all firms that treat all of their work as subject to the Regulations” unless that is strictly what you do, which frankly is unnecessary and depending upon your circumstances, could be disproportionate. Take care to give accurate information.

What are the roles and responsibilities of an AML Compliance Officer?

What is an AML compliance officer?

An AML compliance officer is the person who is responsible for maintaining AML compliance in their organisation. This person will manage the anti-money laundering compliance program in their organisation, including supervising the development and implementation of and performing ongoing monitoring of their institution’s anti-money laundering compliance program. They will help ensure that their organisation complies with AML rules and regulations and takes the required measures against financial crime.

Understanding the role of money laundering compliance under the Fourth Directive

The Fourth EU Directive on money laundering (4AMLD) requires that credit or financial institutions have an AML / CFT compliance officer at a management level, and appoint a management body responsible for the implementation of AML law, regulations and administrative provisions necessary for compliance.

However until now, there were no details or guidelines as to how this should be accomplished. In June 2022, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a final report setting out clear expectations of the role, tasks and responsibilities of the AML compliance officer and management body.

EU competent authorities have until 1 December 2022 to report compliance with the new guidelines from the EBA.

Money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures in the UK

The FATF’s assessment of the UK’s compliance with international AML standards

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has reviewed the UK’s progress towards compliance with money laundering and counter-terrorist financing recommendations. The FATF has a series of measures it expects countries to have in place around AML, and the FATF undertakes detailed reviews of the country’s progress every few years in an assessment known as mutual evaluation reports (MER).

The UK last had an ‘on-site visit’ from the FATF in 2018, known as the 4th round MER, but in May 2022, the FATF issued a follow-up report assessing the UK’s progress.

Money Laundering News Thought Leadership
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3 min read

US Treasury releases new strategy for anti-money laundering and combating financial terrorism frameworks

National illicit finance strategy – high-level priorities

On 13 May 2022, the US Department of Treasury published its 2022 National Illicit Finance Strategy. The strategy aims to strengthen the country’s existing anti-money laundering / combating financial terrorism framework. The strategy outlines four high-level priorities:

Priority 1: Increase transparency in the U.S. anti-money laundering / combating financial terrorism framework

The US Treasury will focus on identifying and closing gaps that might make the U.S. financial system susceptible to illicit activity. This will include greater transparency of Ultimate Beneficial Owner information for legal entities formed in the US, and the extension of Anti Money Laundering and Criminal Finance checks for additional industries and sectors.

Priority 2: Improving the existing anti-money laundering / combating financial terrorism frameworks

The US Treasury acknowledged that the existing anti-money laundering and combating financial terrorism frameworks are outdated and it plans to update reporting requirements and thresholds and put a new focus on nonbank financial institutions.

Important updates on sanctions and money laundering

What the UK Economic Crime Act and UAE grey listing means for business

There’s been a number of important changes to money laundering in recent weeks which will affect all businesses, but in particular regulated entities. Those are businesses such as law firms and estate agents which are required to adhere to money laundering rules and conduct actions such as due diligence on their customers.

UK Economic Crime Act becomes law

New Guide: A guide to money-laundering compliance in Latin America & the Caribbean

Corruption remains the most prevalent financial crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. This means that corruption, often committed by public officials, is also the largest source of illicit funds that have to be laundered, even more than cash generated by drug trafficking and people smuggling.

AML: European Commission updates its high risk jurisdiction list

On 10 January 2022, the European Commission published an amendment to the delegated regulation of high-risk jurisdictions for anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing.

The EU’s prescriptive list contains details of third-country jurisdictions which have strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering / Counter Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the European Union must be identified in order to protect the proper functioning of the internal market.

The EU commission see the following countries as having strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regime:

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