First anniversary of the new Anti-Money Laundering Regime – is it working? Nicola Finnerty writes for Compliance Monitor

More than 12 months after the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive was implemented in the United Kingdom, the current AML regime is acknowledged as woefully inadequate for the extent of the challenge. Nicola Finnerty provides an update of current problems and coming changes in an article published by Compliance Monitor.
 

Lack of progress?
The economic crime inquiry currently being undertaken by the Treasury Committee was told in no uncertain terms about the scale of money laundering and the UK’s commitment to fighting it. The National Crime Agency’s director for prosperity command (covering economic crime) stated that “Money laundering is a facilitator of almost all serious,
organised and major crime. Tackling it is absolutely a strategic priority for law enforcement for the UK, and that is agreed across policing, the National Crime Agency and all of the law enforcement agencies.” [1] However, evidence given to the same committee prior to this by
Transparency International and Global Witness gave a different picture. [2] They gave a scathing review of the UK’s fight against economic crime and, in particular, money laundering. It was suggested that there is no sign that the scale of money laundering in the UK is diminishing and that many countries point the finger at the UK as being a facilitator of money laundering.

So why is this when the UK is, more often than not, the front runner in terms of implementing anti-money laundering legislation? Is it the case that despite the legislation we have in place, there is, as was suggested, a lack of awareness, data and resources, as well as deterrent in the form of accountability and enforcement? 

Click on the box below to see the full article, which was published in Compliance Monitor, September 2018.