Earlier this week the FCA announced proposals to extend anti-money laundering reporting requirements in its financial crime controls to include virtual currency exchanges, such as all cryptoasset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers. The aim of the change is to strengthen AML defences.… Continue Reading
Back in May 2018, the European Parliament and Council of the European Union published Directive (EU) 2018/843, otherwise known as the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (“5MLD”). Following HM Treasury’s consultation exercise on how to transpose this into UK legislation, the awaited implementing instrument was published on 20 December 2019 in the form of the Money … Continue Reading
In February 2018, we reported here that the Court of Appeal had rejected a stockbrocker’s (Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd (“Daiwa“)) appeal against the High Court’s decision that it owed a client (Singularis Holdings Limited (“Singularis“)) a Quincecare duty.… Continue Reading
The average prison sentence for money-laundering has increased by 8% in the last year, according to new research. The research by Thomson Reuters revealed that average jail time increased to 27 months in 2018, up from 25 months in 2017.… Continue Reading
Overview HM Treasury published an updated advisory notice on money laundering and terrorist financing controls on 26 February 2019, identifying risk ratings and measures to be adopted by the UK regulated sector when dealing with high-risk countries. The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 require the UK … Continue Reading
Last week the FCA published a Decision Notice which imposed a fine of £76,400 on the former CEO of Sonali Bank (UK) Ltd (“SBUK“), Mohammed Ataur Rahman Prodhan (“Mr Prodhan“), for “acting without due skill, care and diligence and for being knowingly concerned in a breach by SBUK of its obligations to maintain effective anti-money laundering … Continue Reading
In light of rapid developments in the market, the substantial potential of applications of distributed ledger technology (DLT), and growing evidence of the risks associated with cryptoassets; the Chancellor of the Exchequer launched the Cryptoassets Taskforce, comprising HM Treasury (HMT), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE), in March 2018 as … Continue Reading
Last month, the House of Commons Treasury Committee published its report on crypto-assets. The report expresses serious concerns about the risks of consumer harm and financial crime and calls for regulation “as a matter of urgency“.… Continue Reading
The Financial Task Force (FATF) has recently published a report that looks at the techniques and tools used by professional money launders (PMLs). This is the first time the FATF has undertaken a project which concentrates on PMLs that specialise in enabling criminals to evade anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing safeguards and sanctions in … Continue Reading
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its annual Anti-Money Laundering Report on 19 July 2018, for the year ended 31 March 2018. In the report, the FCA reminded firms that due to the size and global nature of the UK financial industry, financial crime and AML remains a significant risk and is therefore one of … Continue Reading
On 21 April 2016, HM Treasury and the Home Office published the government’s “Action Plan” on the prevention of money laundering and the funding of terrorism. The Action Plan is designed to help businesses to help the UK in the fight against money laundering and financing terrorism – an issue which is becoming all too … Continue Reading
