The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019
(‘the 2019 Regulations’) implement the European Union Fifth Money
Laundering Directive and came into force on 10th January 2020.
Whilst our anti money laundering policy (AML policy) is designed for a low
risk business, i.e. one that is not within a regulated sector, as a matter
of good practice we have updated the AML Policy to reflect important new
aspects of the 2019 Regulations.
It is important for businesses, even low risk ones, to have procedures and
policies in place to identify and prevent money laundering within their
company. The 2019 Regulations amend the existing money laundering
regulations to ensure that the ownership and control of any company, legal
arrangement or trust structure of a customer is identified and verified.
They also prescribe mandatory enhanced due diligence measures when a
transaction appears to be ‘high-risk’. Accordingly, the AML policy, in the
Corporate Documents Folder, has been updated in relation to customer
identification and due diligence where enhanced due diligence may be
required. A data protection provision has also been added to ensure that
the collection of any relevant data is “processed” in line with the Data
Protection Act 2018.
Note that the 2019 Regulations have also widened the scope of “obliged
entities” subject to them. These include letting agents, art dealers,
virtual currency platforms and those dealing with pre-paid cards. Estate
agents and letting agents should use the AML policy templates specifically
created for them in the Property portfolio of documents. Failure to comply
with AML legislation can result in civil penalties or criminal prosecution.
The contents of this Newsletter are for reference purposes only and do not constitute
legal advice. Independent legal advice should be sought in relation to any specific
legal matter.