On 18 September 2020, the FCA issued a statement in response to queries from cannabis-related companies interested in listing in the UK. The FCA statement is pending a guidance consultation which will follow in due course. Key points in the statement include: While medicinal cannabis was legalised in the UK in 2018, investment in overseas-licensed … Continue Reading
On 16 September 2020, the European Commission published a report to the European Parliament and the Council assessing whether Member States have duly identified and made subject to the obligations of the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4MLD) all trusts and similar arrangements governed under their laws. Article 31 of the 4MLD requires trustees or persons … Continue Reading
On 14 September 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a report, Virtual Assets – Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. The report is based on more than 100 case studies and is designed to help national authorities and financial institutions identify potential money laundering and terrorist financing activity involving virtual … Continue Reading
On 10 September 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its response to the European Commission’s (EC’s) call for advice on the future of the EU anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) framework. The EBA set out a number of recommendations, in summary these include: Harmonising specific aspects of the Fifth AML Directive, including: … Continue Reading
The financial crime landscape has evolved significantly in recent years through, for example, the implementation of the 4th and 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives; diversification of scope of financial crime to include linked disciplines like tax evasion and market abuse; and rapid developments of new technology. Further regulatory changes are also on the horizon, including … Continue Reading
On 2 September 2020, MONEYVAL (the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism) published a report detailing the money laundering and terrorist financing trends emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic, identified through feedback from jurisdictions within MONEYVAL’s remit. MONEYVAL notes that, so far during the pandemic, whilst the … Continue Reading
In September 2020, SWIFT (a global member-owned cooperative and provider of secure financial messaging services) published a report to support market participants in understanding the money laundering techniques which underpin large-scale cyber-attacks. The report sets out the end-to-end journey commonly used by criminals to launder funds obtained through illicit cyber-crime related activities, and focusses on … Continue Reading
On 2 June 2020 the European Parliament posed questions relating to the registration and monitoring of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in Member States as required by the provisions of the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD). VASPs include virtual currencies, fiat currencies and custodian wallet providers. Responses were received from the Financial Markets Law … Continue Reading
On 26 August the Institute of International Finance (IIF) provided feedback to the European Commission on its Action Plan for a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, published in May 2020. The IIF notes that a more coordinated approach to implement and oversea the EU’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism … Continue Reading
On 24 August 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper (CP20/17) focused on extending its annual financial crime reporting obligation to include firms that carry on regulated activities that potentially pose a higher money laundering risk. This follows its 2019/20 Business Plan commitment to consider extending the reporting obligation to more firms. … Continue Reading
On 19 August 2020 the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its response to the European Commission’s consultation on its action plan for a comprehensive EU policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The European Commission’s action plan includes 6 “pillars” to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) framework, and … Continue Reading
On 12 August 2020, the Wolfsberg Group published its statement on developing an effective anti-money laundering (AML) / counter-terrorism financing (CTF) programme. In December 2019, the Wolfsberg Group published a statement on effectiveness which encourages jurisdictions to adopt the Financial Action Task Force’s focus on effective outcomes. As part of that statement, the Wolfsberg Group … Continue Reading
On 7 August 2020, the Wolfsberg Group, published new guidance targeted at private banking and wealth management divisions within financial institutions (FIs) to support the undertaking of source of wealth (SoW) and source of funds (SoF) checks. Based on the principles of the application of a risk-based approach (RBA), different customers will require a different … Continue Reading
On 6 August 2020, HM Treasury published its eighth annual report on anti-money laundering / countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF) supervision. The report includes self-reported data about activity undertaken in 2018-19 across the UK’s AML/CTF regime, which supervisors provided to HM Treasury in their annual returns. The data collected in the returns covered the … Continue Reading
Following a consultation which concluded on 18 May 2020 (blog here), on 28 July 2020 the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) published a new chapter to be added to Part II of its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) guidance for the financial services sector. The new chapter (referred to as Sector 22) … Continue Reading
At Budget 2020 the government announced its intention to introduce an economic crime levy. On 20 July 2020, HM Treasury issued a consultation inviting views on the design principles of the levy, and how the levy could operate in practice, to ensure that it is proportionate and effective. The consultation seeks views on what the … Continue Reading
On 15 July 2020, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury (HMT) co-published a summary of responses to their technical consultation on the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) and Trust Registration Service. On 24 January 2020, HMRC and HMT published a technical consultation ‘Fifth Money Laundering Directive and Trust Registration Service’. The consultation outlined … Continue Reading
On 10 July 2020, the European Parliament (Parliament) adopted a resolution on a comprehensive pan-EU strategy for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, following the publication of the European Commission’s Action Plan in May (resolution text, press release). Key provisions of the resolution The resolution supports a much stricter, “zero-tolerance” stance towards Member … Continue Reading
After a relatively quiet start to the year on the enforcement front, the FCA published three notable Final Notices in June 2020. All relate to areas which have been a focus for the FCA for some time: the fair treatment of customers experiencing financial difficulty (especially important in light of Covid-19); AML controls; and ensuring … Continue Reading
On 7 July 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors regarding stablecoins. The June 2019 revisions to the FATF Standards place anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) requirements on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The FATF report finds that stablecoins share … Continue Reading
The UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) recent announcements indicate that private equity firms (PE Firms) will see increased regulatory scrutiny over their anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls. Earlier this year, the FCA issued a “Dear CEO” letter outlining its Alternatives Supervision Strategy, including its view of the key risks of harm that PE and … Continue Reading
On 2 July 2020, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued an updated version of its guidelines on ‘Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism’. The updated version of the guidelines contains a new paragraph 96 in Part IV (role of supervisors) and Annex 5 (interaction and cooperation between prudential … Continue Reading
On 2 July 2020, the European Commission announced that it had referred Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union, with a request for financial sanctions, for failing to fully implement the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive into their national law. The Commission states that incomplete transposition concerns fundamental aspects … Continue Reading
On 19 June 2020, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) the Delegated Regulation that the European Commission adopted on 7 May 2020 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 which supplements the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive by identifying those third countries that have strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and countering the financing … Continue Reading
