anti money laundering

  • Latest property news
    Latest property news

    Fifth of all agents fined for AML non-compliance

    Nearly a fifth of all estate agents have been fined for non-compliance with the UK’s recently-introduced Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations, it has been claimed. The research has been carried out by online identity verification service firm Credas, which says it believes agents were not given enough time or information by the government to prepare for AML, with predictable results. It polled 100 agents and found 19% of them had been fined for AML non-compliance by an average £11,842, although a third had been fined much more, at between £15,000 and £25,000. One of the duties estate agents must complete to be compliant with AML regulations is to store all their documentation relating to clients, financial transactions and other Anti Money Laundering paperwork. “We are concerned that 32% of the agents surveyed are still using a paper filing system to store their AML data,” says Credas CEO Rhys David (left). “There are so many digital solutions available on the market which will help agents with data storage and management, that there is no need to still depend on an old-fashioned filing cabinet and introduce risk. “Credas solves both those problems as it stores all the AML data in a secure…

    Read More »
  • FeaturesAnti-money laundering image
    Features

    Anti-money laundering – comply or die!

    …can save your business! Recent legal cases on conveyancing fraud and Anti-money laundering (AML) compliance suggest that you take AML compliance very seriously, says Andrea Kirkby.

    Read More »
  • Latest property news
    Latest property news

    New money laundering watchdog launched

    The government has announced that a new watchdog is to be launched early next year to oversee the UK’s Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations, which are due to become law this June. Called the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS), its job will be to tackle potential weaknesses in the supervision of estate agents that criminals may be exploiting. The new anti money laundering watchdog will be paid for by what the HM Treasury calls ‘supervisors’; the big accountancy, law and other trade and regulatory bodies. It will be based at the HQ of the Financial Conduct Authority in London. AML rules The latest version of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 is designed to bring the UK in line with international standards and include “robust new standards of supervision”. They introduce new responsibilities for agents covering when and how they must carry out enhanced due diligence on customers, and how they carry out risk assessments to work out if their business is vulnerable to money laundering attempts. The regulation in particular ask agents to look more carefully at transfer of funds, a problem highlighted in January when a criminal gang based in London…

    Read More »
Back to top button