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€500 banknote issuance to end
The European Central Bank (ECB) is to stop printing €500 banknotes by around the end of 2018 over concern that they “could facilitate illicit activities”.Those notes already in circulation will remain legal tender while national..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
UK financial sanctions: new oversight, tougher penalties
The Summer Budget 2015 contained a commitment to significantly revamp the UK’s approach to the implementation and enforcement of financial sanctions, at both the administrative and legislative level. These changes are now beginning to be..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
UK government funds trawl of Panama Papers
A new UK taskforce, announced on 10 April, will pursue criminal leads in the ‘Panama Papers’, the leaked trove of 11.5m documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca identifying owners of corporate structures used in tax evasion and money..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
Are the Panama Papers protected by legal professional privilege?
Reporting in the press of the leaked (or hacked) data from Mossack Fonseca led the UK Financial Conduct Authority to write, initially, to around twenty banks and other financial institutions, requiring them to inform the FCA of any links to the..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
Grand ambition – the UK Action Plan for AML & CTF
As a spirited response to the call for action that was October 2015’s UK National Risk Assessment for ML and TF – it spelt out, with commendable honesty, intelligence deficiencies around, especially, high-end money laundering, as well as..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
UK parliamentarians temper PEP controls
UK MPs and their families should no longer feel “hounded” by the banks like “African despots”, in the colourful language of member Charles Walker, vice chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers,..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
Money, not power – UK AML/CTF Action Plan comment
The UK Action Plan for AML & CTF proposes new legal tools – an Unexplained Wealth Order and illicit enrichment offence – to crack down on money laundering and corruption but that is to avoid the real issue, says Jason..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
Panama law firm leak opens up offshore structures of global elite
A cache of 11.5 million documents leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca has revealed 140 politically exposed persons (PEPs), including 12 serving or past heads of state, with connections to offshore companies. The data, sifted by the..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
Forget Panama (okay, not exactly), what about US company formation?
Mossack Fonseca may have some explaining to do when it comes to company formation, notching up over 200,000 structures, not too many questions asked, over 40 years, but then it, and Panama as a whole, are two-bit players against… the United..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
Becoming a sector of value
Money or value transfer services (MVTS) that bypass, touch, intersect or operate through the traditional financial system may disconcert in their bewildering diversity, often attended by opaqueness and large networks of agents. Sue Grossey studies..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
The law of unintended consequences - money laundering in civil cases
Money laundering may be the substantive issue in civil litigation or collateral to the main case and it is then, especially, that one needs to tread with care, finds Jonathan Fisher QC.
Although the concept of unintended consequences is..
Online Published Date:
06 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
233 - 02 May 2016
US moves to identify company beneficial owners and speed ML investigations
Years in the wrangling, the US customer due diligence rule, which will require US financial institutions to “identify and verify” the personal details of beneficial owners of corporate accounts, at a 25% threshold, or otherwise the..
Online Published Date:
09 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Foreign companies holding UK property to register beneficial owners – welcome with caveat
Timon Molloy (timon.molloy@informa.com), Editor
Online Published Date:
12 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Law firm regulator’s AML findings jar with UK property market claims
Most law firms in England & Wales have effective AML compliance in place according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which supervises around 10,300 firms and 170,000 individuals, although its latest study points to serious..
Online Published Date:
17 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Pulling out the rug – Turkey slips back
Conflict rages just over the border in Syria yet Turkey goes slow (even backwards with recent amendment of its customs code) on terrorist financing. So, what is the agenda? asks Paul Cochrane.Turkey may be on the frontline of the so-called..
Online Published Date:
20 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Elusive target – US v Hizbullah
Hizbullah has long been on the terrorism radar and despite current focus on Islamic State, the United States is attempting to maintain pressure on the group’s finances through specific legislation. Paul Cochrane, in Beirut, explores the likely..
Online Published Date:
20 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Fourth EU Directive – evolution not revolution, and onto the Fifth…
Lisa Kate Osofsky (+44 (0) 207 489 5509, losofsky@exiger.com) is EMEA Chairman of Exiger.
Online Published Date:
20 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Plain dealing
Susan Grossey may be contacted on +44 (0)1223 563636, susan@thinkingaboutcrime.com, www.thinkingaboutcrime.com
Online Published Date:
20 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Nuclear reaction – UN & EU tighten sanctions on North Korea
Susannah Cogman (+44 (0)20 7466 2580, susannah.cogman@hsf.com) is a partner and Elizabeth Head (+44 20 7466 6443, elizabeth.head@hsf.com) is a senior associate at Herbert Smith Freehills in London.
Online Published Date:
20 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
East-West entrepôt: the Hong Kong connection
Differences in local law between mainland China and its Special Administrative Regions, a common propensity to gamble and official limits on cash outflows from the People’s Republic are proving a rich mix for launderers, reports Ed Peters from..
Online Published Date:
20 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Is one SAR always enough?
If your organisation is wholly based in the UK and only has UK clients then you submit any suspicious activity reports (SARs) to the National Crime Agency (NCA). However, with many organisations operating across borders, knowing to which financial..
Online Published Date:
24 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Who, where, how? - de-risking in practice
Micah Willbrand (+44 (0)778 736 2899, micah.willbrand@niceactimize.com) is Director - Global AML Product Marketing at NICE Actimize (www.niceactimize.com).
Online Published Date:
25 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
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Is your sanctions filter working?
SWIFT recently hosted a panel discussion on sanctions compliance with experts from Citi, JPMorgan Chase and PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of the ACAMS webinar series. Topics ranged through regulators’ growing expectations that banks should..
Online Published Date:
25 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
234 - 24 May 2016
Risky enforcement
MLB Editor Timon Molloy considers the response of banks to recent enforcement activity and its wider impact on the AML agenda.
Online Published Date:
25 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
220 - 02 February 2015
Resetting normal - a monitor's insight
Multi-million/billion dollar fines are only the beginning of a long haul back to compliant business: sceptical authorities want to be sure that the terms of deferred prosecution agreements are satisfied - a review and reporting role for the independent monitor. Nigel Coles, a managing director at Exiger, talks to MLB editor Timon Molloy about working between prosecutor or regulator and a firm in remediation.
Online Published Date:
25 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
225 - 26 June 2015
Decoding de-risking
Timon Molloy (timon.molloy@informa.com), Editor
Online Published Date:
25 May 2016
Appeared in issue:
235 - 14 June 2016