On 17 July 2025, HM Treasury (HMT) published Improving the effectiveness of the Money Laundering Regulations – Consultation response.
In the consultation response, HMT is publishing its response to the 2024 consultation on the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), which received over 200 responses from across a range of stakeholders. HMT also confirms that it intends to make changes to the MLRs in a number of areas including enhanced due diligence on complex transactions, due diligence on pooled client accounts and registration and change in control for crypto asset service providers.
The Government intends to publish a draft Statutory Instrument in the coming months for technical feedback, before laying in Parliament later this year if parliamentary time allows.
In addition, HMT and the Home Office have jointly published National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing 2025. The National Risk Assessment (NRA) of money laundering and terrorist financing is the UK’s stock-take of the Government’s collective knowledge of money laundering and terrorist financing risks. This NRA builds on earlier NRAs published in 2015, 2017 and 2020. Among other things this NRA notes that as of 2025, alongside the NRA, the UK’s economic crime threat priorities are planned to be published annually. These will be published as part of the Government’s commitments in the Economic Crime Plan 2 2023-26.