On 30 July 2019, the Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC) published a letter it had sent to HM Treasury concerning the implementation of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) and cryptoassets. The FMLC highlights discrepancies between the definition of ‘virtual currencies’ provided for in Article 1(2)(d) of 5MLD and the non-legislative definition adopted by UK … Continue Reading
On 24 July 2019, the European Commission adopted a Communication and four reports that are intended to support European and Member State competent authorities in better addressing money laundering and terrorist financing (ML / TF) risks. The Communication, Towards a better implementation of the EU’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism framework, provides … Continue Reading
On 24 July 2019, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published an opinion on the link between money laundering and terrorist financing (ML / TF) concerns and prudential objectives. The opinion is addressed to prudential supervisors of Member State competent authorities. In the opinion the EBA invites prudential supervisors to communicate to institutions’ management bodies and … Continue Reading
On 18 July 2019, the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) announced its plans following the responses to the an earlier consultation on sectors 4 (Credit unions) and 20 (Brokerage services to funds) of Part II of its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) guidance for the financial services sector. The JMLSG states that … Continue Reading
On 21 June 2019 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) adopted its 2019 Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (the Guidance). The Guidance updates the 2015 version of the guidance and accompanies the FATF’s June 2019 Interpretive Note to Recommendation 15 on New Technologies (INR 15) that clarifies … Continue Reading
On 8 July 2019, HM Treasury published its latest anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML / CTF) supervision report for 2017-2018. The report incorporates activity undertaken during this period which supervisors provided to HM Treasury in their annual returns and takes into account observations from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) mutual evaluation report of … Continue Reading
On 21 June 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updated its Recommendations by adding an interpretative note to Recommendation 15 which sets out in detail the application of the FATF Standards to virtual asset activities and service providers. The interpretative note establishes binding measures relevant for both countries and virtual asset service providers (as … Continue Reading
On 27 June 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its report to the G20 leaders’ summit. The report provides an overview of the FATF’s recent and future work. The FATF’s future work includes: a review of countries’ and providers’ implementation of the requirements applicable to virtual assets and virtual asset service … Continue Reading
On 27 June 2019, the Wolfsberg Group has published a series of materials supporting the implementation of the Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire (CBDDQ). The new materials include: a short video giving an overview of the CBDDQ and its development and purpose; a series of 12 videos covering each section of the CBDDQ individually and … Continue Reading
On 25 June 2019, HM Treasury published an updated advisory notice regarding the risks posed by unsatisfactory money laundering and terrorist financing controls in a number of jurisdictions. The notice contains three categories of higher risk jurisdictions: consider as high risk and apply counter measures and enhanced due diligence measures in accordance with the risks: … Continue Reading
Background In 2017, the Law Commission agreed with the Home Office to review and provide recommendations on the UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) regimes, in particular, the suspicious activity reporting (SAR) regime. On 18 June 2019, the Law Commission published a report on the SARs regime. The report looked at the … Continue Reading
The City of London Law Society (CLLS) has published its response to HM Treasury’s (HMT’s) consultation on transposing the EU Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) into the UK law. The response has been prepared by the CLLS Regulatory Law Committee (Committee) and it has focused on the following areas: cryptoassets and registration of express trusts. … Continue Reading
Following the rejection by the Council of the European Union (“the Council”) on 07 March 2019 of a draft list of 23 high-risk countries, as proposed in February 2019 by the European Commission in accordance with Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2018/843 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes … Continue Reading
Today (just to note TR19/4 was published on 4/6), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its latest thematic review, TR19/4, which looks at money laundering (ML) risks in capital markets. The FCA visited 19 market sector operators, including investment banks, recognised investment exchanges, clearing and settlement houses, trade bodies, inter-dealer brokers, trading firms and a … Continue Reading
On 14 May 2019, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/758 of 31 January 2019 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 with regard to regulatory technical standards for the minimum action and the type of additional measures credit and financial institutions must take to mitigate money laundering and terrorist … Continue Reading
On 15 April 2019, HM Treasury published its consultation on the steps the UK Government proposes to take to meet the UK’s expected obligation to transpose the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) into national law. The 5MLD makes a number of changes to the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive which was mentioned in our update last … Continue Reading
On 8 April 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its April report to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. The report sets out the FATF’s ongoing work to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. Key points raised by the FATF include: virtual assets pose serious money laundering and terrorist financing risks … Continue Reading
On 19 March 2019, the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) published the text of proposed revisions to part II of its guidance on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism for the UK financial services industry. The proposed revisions impact two sectors, ‘credit unions’ (sector 4) and ‘brokerage services to funds’ … Continue Reading
On 8 March 2019, the Treasury Select Committee published a report on anti-money laundering (AML) supervision and sanctions implementations. The report follows the Treasury Select Committee’s March 2018 enquiry on the scale of money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions in the UK, the UK’s regulatory and legislative landscape, and how individuals, firms and the wider … Continue Reading
On 26 February 2019, HM Treasury has published an updated advisory notice regarding the risks posed by unsatisfactory money laundering and terrorist financing controls in a number of jurisdictions. The advisory notice briefly sets out the requirement to apply Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for higher risk jurisdictions and attaches as annexes the two statements that … Continue Reading
On 13 February 2019, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation supplementing the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (MLD4) by identifying high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies. The Delegated Regulation identifies 23 high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their safeguarding against money laundering and terrorist financing. The countries are listed in an annex to the … Continue Reading
On 31 January 2019, the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) published a press release announcing its work plan for 2019. The press release notes that new areas of guidance in 2019 will cover areas such as virtual currency exchanges, digital identities, and payment initiation services, alongside further work on the implementation of the Fifth … Continue Reading
On 31 January 2019, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation supplementing the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (MLD4) with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) for the minimum action and the type of additional measures credit and financial institutions must take to mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risk in certain third countries. The RTS … Continue Reading
On 23 January 2019, the Council of the EU published a press release of its meeting of 22 January 2019 on economic and financial affairs. The first item of discussion listed in the press release is the European system of financial supervision (ESFS). The EU Presidency has proposed to prioritise the provisions relating to the … Continue Reading
