EU anti-money laundering legislative proposal – 20 Nov 2012 The Council of the European Union has published a summary record of the meeting of the European Parliament Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering, which took place on 12 November 2012. Among other things, Mr Bassi, European Commission (DG MARKT), discussed the development […]

FATF Warning lists update October 2012 – 15 Nov 2012 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released two important documents following its plenary meeting in October 2012 indicating jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes. 1. FATF Public statement – 19 October 2012 – http://www.fatf-gafi.org/topics/high-riskandnon-cooperativejurisdictions/documents/fatfpublicstatement-19october2012.html 2. Improving Global AML/CFT compliance: ongoing process – 19 […]

Sanctions costing Iran $100 million every day 14 Nov 2012 The damage wrought by sanctions on Iran’s economy became clear today when oil exports were shown to have fallen by 43 per cent since last year, costing about $100 million (£63 million) every day in lost revenue. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Photo: AP By David […]

Seychelles Govt decries one-sided Al Jazeera report on money laundering – 13 Nov 2012 The government has expressed regret at a Middle eastern television station Al Jazeera report which showed a Seychellois apparently involved in money laundering, but leaves out interviews showing it was an isolated case. Finance, Trade and Investment Minister Pierre Laporte said […]

Updated Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) financial crime guide – The FSA has four statutory objectives as set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: 1.To maintain market confidence; 2.To contribute to the protection and enhancement of stability of the UK financial system; 3.Consumer protection; and 4.To reduce financial crime and the extent to […]

The Money Laundering (Amendment) Regulations 2012 – Amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 came into force on 1 October 2012, but what effect will these have on practitioners? The answer in most cases is likely to be ‘little or none’. It is now five years since the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 were introduced. HM […]

FSA publishes financial crime guide Nov 2012 – The FSA has published its guide “Financial Crime: A guide for firms” including new text following its thematic reviews of anti-bribery systems and controls at investment banks and banks’ defences against investment fraud. This guide is intended to provide all firms with practical guidance on how systems […]

HM Treasury + OFAC – HM Treasury publishes clarification of how the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (“OFAC”) Iran sanctions regulations apply to foreign banks operating in the US (13 August) – On 13 August 2012, HM Treasury published a letter (dated 8 August 2012) that it had received from the US Department of the […]