Firms must take steps to make sure they don’t make the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2020, says Helen Simm
The news that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is hot on the heels of firms who fall short on anti-money laundering (AML) compliance will strike further fear into the hearts of money laundering reporting officers (MLROs) and compliance teams.
In Spring 2019, the SRA wrote to 400 firms requesting a copy of their money laundering risk assessments – a requirement under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017).
If it was hoped this would paint a healthy picture, the result was anything but. Out of the 400 responses received by the SRA, 83 were non-compliant – more than one in five. The SRA reports that of the risk assessments that w...
