UK Economic Secretary, Kitty Ussher has announced that new tough and targeted regulations to fight money laundering and terrorist financing are designed to ensure the UK response to money laundering at home and abroad is effective and proportionate.
The new regulations, published on Wednesday, will come into effect on December 15, 2007. They will extend supervision to all businesses in the regulated sector to secure greater compliance with anti-money laundering controls including, for the first time, estate agents, trust and company service providers and consumer credit businesses.
The regulations will include strict tests to ensure money services businesses and firms that help to set up and manage trusts and companies are not run for criminal purposes, and will require extra checks on customers that pose a higher risk of money laundering (for example foreign heads of state and non face-to-face customers).
"These Regulations will strengthen further the UK's defences against money laundering and terrorist finance," said Ussher in a statement. She continued: "In line with the Government's financial crime strategy these Regulations introduce tough and targeted new measures where the risks are greatest and at the same time ensure that businesses and consumers in low risk situations face fewer burdens than previously."
The new measures are the result of consultation with both the private sector and law enforcement, and carefully balance the views of the different parties.
According to the Treasury, the new regulations will also reduce regulatory burdens in low risk areas. For example: firms will be able to make fewer checks in low risk situations, such as occupational pension funds and child trust fund administration; the number of identity checks will be reduced, with firms being able to rely upon checks done by certain other firms (for example solicitors and FSA authorised financial advisors); and greater flexibility will be introduced to record keeping rules so that firms can keep only the important details, rather than whole documents.
The Government's Financial Crime Strategy has estimated that organised crime costs the UK GBP20 billion in social and economic harm each year.
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