An insider at a Swiss bank warned Britain’s financial watchdogs that bankers in its UK office were offering services that could facilitate tax evasion and money laundering. Did the regulators turn a blind eye? The FT investigates the City’s role as a global hub for illicit finance. One Monday in March last year, an announcement […]

The team at Comsure thought they would see how much money Guernsey (GFSC) has raised in regulatory fines.  It seems that since 2010 the current total value of fines is approximately £1,443,875.00 – see our analysis – https://archive.comsuregroup.com/gfsc-fines/ – please let us know if we have missed one or whether we have made a mistake. […]

Following some work with some Professional firms in Luxembourg, I thought I would post this update on the chance that some people missed this VERY IMPORTANT news. This news follows Switzerland’s January 1 adoption of certain tax offences being considered predicate offences to the money laundering offence. Switzerland On 1 January 2016 Tax Fraud as […]

The issue of single criminality REMAINS IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS BUT has been addressed by PoCA in the UK with the introduction of the dual criminality override defence, whereby activity outside the UK that would normally be considered criminal under UK law will not constitute an offence, provided it is considered a lawful activity in […]

The recent Jersey judgment (Al Tamimi v Al Charmaa [2017]JRC 033) concerned the ultimate ownership of two Jersey companies. This case involved an alleged beneficial ownership agreement made by persons in a divorce and residing outside of Jersey (summary below). In the judgement, the Royal Court (the Bailiff and Jurats) sent a strong message that […]

Fighting money laundering is an issue of extreme international importance and regulators will not hesitate to take action against firms and senior individuals who fall short of expected and published standards.  MLRO/MLCO risk and the consequences for them and their employer – FINES In 2016 AML failings led the FCA to prohibit a bank MLRO […]

The new UK Magnitsky Sanctions Legislation is going to be problematic for kleptocrats (from Russia and other authoritarian regimes) who have expensive properties in London and think they are untouchable. Sergei Magnitsky died in custody in 2009 after uncovering a $230 million tax fraud against the Russian treasury.  His evidence implicated some government officials and […]

Is this you? Are you sticking with “paper records and processes”?