As a supervisory authority, we recognise that our firms need to be able to access guidance, so they have a starting point on which to base their compliance with the requirements of the regulations. This is provided as follows:
Legal Sector Anti-Money Laundering Guidance
The AML Legal Supervisors have agreed Legal Sector Anti-Money Laundering Guidance taking account of changes introduced by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which came into force on 26 June 2017. This guidance has been approved by HM Treasury on 5 March 2018 and is the first place for firms to access information about specific requirements of the regulations.
Sectoral Risk Assessment
We are required to set out information on money laundering and terrorist financing risk that we consider is relevant to those we supervise. We have identified and assessed the international and domestic risks of money laundering and terrorist financing to which you are subject. The information in this sectoral risk assessment is designed to assist our firms in carrying out their own money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.
National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2017
The National Risk Assessment, carried out by HM Treasury and the Home Office, identifies risks around services, sectors and entities and encourages vigilance in the higher areas of risk. It sets out the key money laundering and terrorist financing risks for the UK, how these have changed since the UK’s first NRA was published in 2015, and the action taken since 2015 to address these risks.
Mutual Evaluation Report of the United Kingdom’s AML/CTF regime
On 7 December 2018 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its mutual evaluation report (MER) of the United Kingdom’s Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorist Financing regime (available here). The report recognises that the UK’s AML/CTF regime is the strongest of any country assessed to date. It also recognises the private sector’s extensive engagement in the production of the two National Risk Assessments (NRAs) and the success of the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT).
