{"id":62873,"date":"2015-10-15T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T09:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=08c20dc6cc13ef80f7823e5febb64efc"},"modified":"2015-10-15T09:00:45","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T09:00:45","slug":"news-story-government-publishes-anti-money-laundering-assessment-and-commits-to-action-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=62873","title":{"rendered":"News story: Government publishes anti-money laundering assessment and commits to action plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Today\u2019s (15 October 2015) announcement builds on the steps that the government has already taken to improve its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/uk-national-risk-assessment-of-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing\">anti money laundering (<abbr title=\"anti money laundering\">AML<\/abbr>) and counter terrorist finance (<abbr title=\"counter terrorist finance\">CTF<\/abbr>)<\/a> regimes, including by: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>launching the Economic Crime Command in the National Crime Agency (<abbr title=\"National Crime Agency\">NCA<\/abbr>) in 2013<\/li>\n<li>publishing the UK Anti-Corruption Plan in 2014 and setting up a new specialist international corruption unit in the <abbr title=\"National Crime Agency\">NCA<\/abbr>\n<\/li>\n<li>strengthening the confiscation regime under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and creating a new offence for participation in organised crime<\/li>\n<li>introducing reporting process for <abbr title=\"anti money laundering\">AML<\/abbr>\/<abbr title=\"counter terrorist finance\">CTF<\/abbr> supervisors, improving the transparency and accountability of supervision and enforcement in the UK<\/li>\n<li>building Asset Confiscation Enforcement (<abbr title=\"Asset Confiscation Enforcement\">ACE<\/abbr>) Teams to crack down on those who refuse to pay their confiscation orders, contributing to the recovery of \u00a3199 million last year, the highest amount on record<\/li>\n<li>forming a new partnership with the financial sector to create the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Task Force<\/li>\n<li>and launching a review of the Suspicious Activity Reports (<abbr title=\"Suspicious Activity Reports\">SARs<\/abbr>) regime<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The UK is a global financial centre, and is home to some of the most successful international financial services firms in the world. In order to maintain that position and help legitimate financial businesses to thrive, the government is determined to make sure that we have a robust <abbr title=\"anti money laundering\">AML<\/abbr> and <abbr title=\"counter terrorist finance\">CTF<\/abbr> regime in place. That is why the government undertook a thorough assessment of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks in the UK, and that\u2019s why the government has today committed to take forward the findings of this assessment. <\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/uk-national-risk-assessment-of-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing\">National Risk Assessment (<abbr title=\"National Risk Assessment\">NRA<\/abbr>)<\/a>, which is the first of its kind in the UK, draws on data from UK law enforcement and intelligence agencies, anti-money laundering supervisory agencies, government departments, industry bodies, and private sector firms.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"National Risk Assessment\">NRA<\/abbr> found that while the UK\u2019s response to money laundering and terrorist financing risks is well developed, more could be done to strengthen the UK\u2019s anti-money laundering (<abbr title=\"anti money laundering\">AML<\/abbr>) and counter-terrorist financing (<abbr title=\"counter terrorist finance\">CTF<\/abbr>) regime, including in the following areas: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>understanding of certain types of money laundering, and particularly in relation to \u2018high-end\u2019 money laundering, where the proceeds are often held in bank accounts, real estate or other investments, rather than cash<\/li>\n<li>consistency of the UK\u2019s supervisory regime, and specifically the understanding and application of a risk-based approach to supervision;<\/li>\n<li>priority given to combating money laundering by law enforcement agencies and the effectiveness of their response.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The government will take forward these findings in a comprehensive Action Plan. The priorities for the Action Plan will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>plugging intelligence gaps, particularly those associated with \u2018high end\u2019 money laundering through the financial and professional sectors;<\/li>\n<li>enhancing our law enforcement response to tackle the most serious threats<\/li>\n<li>addressing the inconsistencies in the supervisory regime that have been identified through the <abbr title=\"National Risk Assessment\">NRA<\/abbr>\n<\/li>\n<li>working with supervisors to improve individuals\u2019 and firms\u2019 knowledge of money laundering and terrorist financing risks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The government is committed to ensuring that the anti-money laundering regime is effective and proportionate, with businesses and regulators taking a risk-based approach to implementation.  The Better Regulation Executive is leading a \u2018red tape\u2019 review into the UK anti-money laundering regime, including a call for evidence, to identify for example where companies are confused as to what is required or are undertaking unnecessary activity which diverts attention away from where there are real risks. The results of this review will inform the action plan.<\/p>\n<p>The government committed to publishing the <abbr title=\"National Risk Assessment\">NRA<\/abbr> in the UK\u2019s G8 action plan in 2013.\u2003<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government publishes an assessment of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks faced by the UK and commits to launch a comprehensive action plan to further strengthen the UK\u2019s regime<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}