Chapman Upchurchmoney laundering

Further Moves To Tackle Anti-Money Laundering (Spring 2016)

The Ministry of Justice is looking to extend the application of anti-money laundering compliance obligations to more businesses and professions.

In a nutshell, since 2013 only financial institutions and casinos as well as the government agencies tasked with overseeing and enforcing the rules had to comply with the anti-money laundering legislation.

The Government is now proposing to extend these rules to lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, conveyancers, some additional gambling service providers and some high-value goods dealers.

What does this mean for you?

Well, with legislation looking to be introduced by July 2017 more businesses will be required to introduce processes which help deter and detect money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

These include developing a risk assessment and compliance programme, undertaking customer due diligence (verifying customers’ identification), vetting and training staff, monitoring accounts and compliance and reporting suspicious transactions of customers to the Police Financial Intelligence Unit.

Even if you are not in one of the named businesses, the new proposed requirements may require further requests for information from us to ensure we comply with the new legislation.

We will keep you informed on any new details as they emerge.

If you would like to find out how these changes could affect you please feel free to contact us.