News

Check your AML status

08 March 2021

We will soon be contacting all those firms that have previously declared they are not captured by money laundering regulations asking them to re-check their status.

The majority of firms we regulate are in scope of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (as amended). The requirements for solicitors laid out in these regulations to prevent money laundering are not new and have been in place for almost two decades.

That does not mean they have not changed, however, and those firms that were previously out of scope might find that they are now captured by the regulations. The most recent change, which came into force on 10 January, altered the definition of tax advice for money-laundering supervision purposes, for example.

The definition is now broader: ‘A firm or sole practitioner who by way of business provides material aid, or assistance or advice, in connection with the tax affairs of other persons, whether provided directly or through a third party, when providing such services.’ Any matter with a tax consequence or tax element now runs the risk of being drawn into scope.

We are therefore contacting all of you that have said you are out of scope to ask you to re-assess your business and confirm that this is still the case.

You can review the regulations on our money laundering page. This includes our comprehensive support on compliance, including the recently-added Legal Services Affinity Group guidance and our Sectoral Risk Assessment, which should be used to guide your own, firm-wide risk assessment.

If you find you are in scope, you must tell us immediately via an FA10 form and make sure your beneficial owners, officer and managers have been approved by us.