Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in United Kingdom

  • 05 February 2020
AML Country Guide / Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in United Kingdom

Overview of AML in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is one of the most effective and advanced fighters countries against money laundering, corruption, terrorist financing, and fraud. The United Kingdom has strict and advanced laws in place to prevent financial crimes. The UK has identified money laundering crimes by AML laws and has made it clear that money laundering should be prevented. The UK is also a member of the European Union and FATF . The UK's AML laws and controls comply with FATF recommendations and European Union Anti-Money Laundering directives.

The United Kingdom (UK) AML laws are created with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) . According to POCA, attempting or helping money laundering is a big crime. Those who commit these crimes are punished with penalties.

AML Regulators in The United Kingdom

There are several organizations established in the UK to combat financial crime. National Crime Agency (NCA ) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is the primary national authorities . Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are responsible for supervising regulated sectors' compliance responsibilities. Regulators oversee companies' AML vulnerabilities and require companies to meet AML requirements. It is a criminal offense for businesses to fail to comply with AML compliance. Fines and sanctions are applied to businesses that do not comply with AML compliance.

Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Task Force

The United Kingdom established the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce in 2014. The Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Task Force (JMLIT) provides information sharing between the private and public sectors, helping to combat money laundering more effectively. This innovative organization, established by the UK to combat financial crimes, has been praised by FATF. JMLIT has detected and prevented a total of 9 million pounds of financial crime since its establishment. JMLIT aims to cooperate with more private and public institutions and prevent more financial crime in the coming years.

What Are The Regulated Sectors in The United Kingdom?

Some sectors are seen as high-risk sectors for money laundering. If countries want to prevent money laundering, they must regulate and supervise high-risk businesses. Regulators in the UK considered the following sectors as high risk. AML regulations apply to these sectors. Businesses that fail AML compliance face a risk of penalties.

Financial institutions

Credit institutions

Estate agents

Casinos

Auditors

Company service providers

What Are The Punishments for Money Laundering?

The United Kingdom has defined financial crimes precisely by law. Money laundering and terrorist financing crimes under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Terrorism Act 2000 can be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison, and fraud crimes under the 2006 Fraud Act can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. In addition, businesses that do not carry out AML checks are considered to have helped these crimes. Regulators impose great penalties on these businesses. Businesses that are on the agenda with crime experience a loss of reputation and loss of customer confidence. Sanction Scanner helps businesses with AML compliance processes. With our AML solutions, Businesses can meet AML requirements in the UK. You can contact us to get information about our AML solutions.

AML & CFT Solutions for The United Kingdom

Sanction Scanner provides AML & CFT solutions for the United Kingdom. Sanction Scanner's solutions comply with UK's AML & CFT regulations.

  • AML Name Screening Software provides companies to fulfill their AML, KYC, and CDD obligations in customer onboarding processes. With AML Name Screening Software, companies can scan their customers in sanction, PEP, and more than two hundred countries' adverse media data.
  • With Transaction Screening Software , companies can scan the recipient and sender of money transfers in sanction, PEP, and adverse media lists.
  • With AML Transaction Monitoring software , financial institutions can automatically monitor their customers' financial transactions according to defined risk rules and scenarios.

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