Mission creep or leap? – reforming the Money Laundering Regulations

The reform of the anti-money laundering law in the United Kingdom is progressing, says Felicity Banks of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, with the long-awaited publication of a Treasury consultation on the implementation of the second EU Money Laundering Directive. Draft regulations have been published with the consultation document, which are intended to replace the Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2001, broadly duplicating their requirements.The scope of the regulations has been extended to cover the additional sectors required by the directive, and the legal foundation for the registration and enforcement of the requirements on some high risk sectors, by Customs and Excise, is also included. However, the playing field remains far from even.

Besides the banks and other financial service providers already within the scope of the first Money Laundering Directive, the second directive requires anti-money laundering (AML) procedures to be mandated for the following sectors: