Updated to Reflect the Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019

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 10^th 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.