Work carried out to make sure solicitors keep criminals from using the profession to launder money has been detailed in a new review.
The SRA have published their first professional supervisor report, a recent requirement placed on all supervisors by both the Money Laundering Regulations and guidance by the Office for Professional Body Anti-money laundering Supervision (OPBAS) and HM Treasury. It sets out work over the last 12 months to help firms make sure their processes are effective and followed properly. That includes action taken against those firms that failed to take their obligations seriously.
A total of 85 firm visits took place, offering guidance on issues such as tax advice (the definition of which was expanded by the regulations this year) with another 168 desk-based reviews taking place. The most common reason for non-compliance with the anti-money laundering regulations was not having a proper risk assessment in place for AML matters, while other issues included poor client due diligence and checks on the source of funds.