Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Norton Rose Fulbright’s financial crime compliance specialists, located in … Continue Reading
On 17 December 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a methodology for carrying out risk assessments under Article 9a of the revised EBA Regulation. These risk assessments are part of the EBA’s new role to lead, coordinate and monitor the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) in all EU Member States. The … Continue Reading
On 16 December 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a paper providing entities with additional information on COVID-19 related money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The paper covers both changes in predicate offences and changes in money laundering and terrorist financing activity. It provides selected case studies, displaying criminal activity that has occurred … Continue Reading
On 15 December 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its first report on progress made by competent authorities with the setting up of colleges to enhance supervisory cooperation for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) purposes. The EBA’s work on monitoring colleges is part of its new role to lead, coordinate … Continue Reading
On 11 December 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published an opinion that focuses on the provision of information to depositors linked to a deposit guarantee scheme (DGS) pay-out based on real-life experiences of DGS interventions where there were anti-money laundering / counter the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) concerns. Although the EBA is aware of … Continue Reading
On 7 December 2020, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation 2016/1675 supplementing the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, as regards deleting Mongolia from the table in point I of the Annex. The explanatory memorandum to the Delegated Regulation explains that the Commission has concluded that, at this stage, Mongolia no longer has … Continue Reading
On 4 November 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued an opinion setting out how prudential supervisors should consider money laundering and terrorist financing risks in the context of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP). With this opinion, the EBA calls on prudential supervisors to take into account money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) … Continue Reading
On 21 to 23 October 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its final quarterly plenary of 2020 as a virtual event. The discussions over three days mostly focussed on Strategic Initiatives reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic and progress made on country specific processes. The FATF also provided an update on their strategic focus … Continue Reading
On 21 September 2020, the Implementation Decree Registration Ultimate Beneficial Owners of Corporate and Other Legal Entities (Implementatiebesluit registratie uiteindelijk belanghebbenden van vennootschappen en andere juridische entiteiten, the Implementation Decree) was published in the Dutch Government Gazette (Staatsblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). The Implementation Decree is one of the pieces of legislation implementing the … 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
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 26 August 2020, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten, the AFM) announced that it started a follow-up investigation into the monitoring of transactions and the reporting of unusual transactions by investment firms and investment funds. An earlier investigation from 2019 showed deficiencies in these areas. In 2019, the AFM investigated … 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 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 Dutch Ministry of Finance published a Guideline on Financial Sanctions Legislation (the Guideline). The Guideline serves as a general explanation about the effect of financial sanctions measures in the Netherlands and aims to clarify the implementation of the sanction measures for the parties involved. The Guideline consists of a general … 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 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
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
On 7 July 2020, the decree setting the effective date of the Act on the introduction of the UBO register (Implementatiewet registratie uiteindelijk belanghebbenden van vennootschappen en andere juridische entiteiten, the UBO Register Act) was published in the Dutch Bulletin of Acts and Decrees (Staatsblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). Only part of the UBO … Continue Reading
