Anti-Money Laundering
Under UK Anti-Money Laundering regulations businesses must be able to demonstrate that they have undertaken and documented a written risk assessment, provided suitable training to their staff and have sufficiently robust policies, systems and procedures in place to prevent anti-money laundering within their organisation. Where a member of staff suspects anti-money laundering taking place you must have a system in place to facilitate reporting to a nominated officer within the firm and, where appropriate, onward reporting to NCA. The concept of anti-money laundering regulation has been around for some time and yet businesses continue to receive fines for anti-money laundering failings. During the first four months of 2018 fines have been handed out to the tune of £896,000 by the Financial Conduct Authority to a UK division of an overseas bank, a UK bookmaker was fined £6.2 million and it has been reported that the average fine for an estate was £11,842. The cost of failing, in both monetary and reputational terms can be substantial.
Anti-Terrorist Financing
HM Treasury has estimated that serious organised crime costs Britain at least £24 billion every year. Terrorist organisations take many guises ranging from large state-like organisations to single cell operatives. They have become efficient and creative at moving money around the world with funds and property coming from both legitimate and criminal sources. Businesses must be aware of the threats to their business and sector vulnerabilities in order to put systems and processes in place that are capable of detecting and preventing terrorists from raising, moving and using funds.
Preventing the Facilitation of Tax Evasion
If an employee facilitates the evasion of tax by another, the company can be prosecuted for failing to prevent it if adequate prevention procedures are not in place.
Anti-Bribery and Corruption
If bribery occurs as part of a company’s business, the company can be prosecuted for failing to prevent it, if they do not have adequate prevention procedures in place. These procedures are risk based and we can undertake an assessment of your business to identify the risks and recommend a range of procedures to help mitigate them. The costs of failure can run into many millions of pounds in fines or Deferred Prosecution Agreements. Jurisdiction of this legislation is global.
Sanctions
Financial sanctions are imposed by most countries, including the United Kingdom, European Union and the United Nations amongst others. In the UK they are in place to assist in meeting foreign policy and security. Sanctions may take a number of forms including, but not limited to, asset freezes and restrictions on various financial markets. In certain circumstances licences may be granted where there are specific and relevant licencing grounds. Businesses should be aware that breaches of financial sanctions are criminal offences, punishable upon conviction of up to seven years in prison. However, there are both civil and criminal enforcement options available to correct breaches of financial sanctions. The monetary penalties regime created by the 2017 Act provides an alternative to criminal prosecution and has the ability to impose a maximum monetary penalty of £1,000,000.
Modern Slavery
Businesses with a turnover of more than £36 million are required to publish a statement detailing what they are doing to prevent modern slavery from appearing in any part of their business or supply chains. This might include training staff in what to look for and making assessments of the risks of modern slavery occurring. We can help you review your supply chains, wherever they may be in the world, looking at what goes on in-country and in the local language.
