An Edinburgh solicitor has been jailed for four years for his role in the laundering of £1.8m. Richard Housley was also convicted of income tax fraud and a separate charge under POCA. Housley, the senior partner and MLRO, helped launder the money for Michael Voudouri, who pleaded guilty, but failed to turn up for the sentencing […]

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies – what are they, and do you need one? An increasing number of employers are finding that employees use their own smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops and other devices to access work-related information. Whereas a few years ago businesses tended to take a more restrictive approach and tried to limit […]

The latest CBI/PricewaterhouseCoopers survey has shown a further improvement in business sentiment for this year but respondents admitted that this is tempered by uncertainty over returns on investments and the growing costs of regulation, reports the FT Adviser. The 94th CBI/PwC financial services survey found life insurers have curtailed capital expenditure due to the postponement […]

Last month, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) convened in Paris to further develop and implement global controls against financial crime.  Since the establishment of the FATF more than two decades ago, it has been recognized as the international standard setting body on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). With a […]

 The Basel AML Index is a composite country risk ranking developed by the Basel Institute on Governance and its expert team from the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR). The purpose of the Basel AML Index is to analyze countries risk regarding money laundering / terrorism financing, and other related factors such as corruption and […]

Cyprus has brought in controls to raise the 5.8bn euros needed to qualify for the bailoutJersey banks are being warned about approaches from Cypriot firms following a 10bn euro bailout deal. Jersey’s Financial Services Commission (JFSC) has contacted its members to warn deposits from Cyprus were “considered high risk”. However a JFSC spokesman said it […]

The authorities have been reiterating this in the past and now a global body has given the clean chit to the nation’s financial hub status. Mauritius has been ranked among the most protected countries against money laundering and financial crimes in the world by the 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR). http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2013/vol2/index.htm. The report […]

The European Commission released its proposals for a 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive on 5 February 2013. fourth money laundering directive (4th Directive) The proposals are a response to changes made to the requirements issued by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) in February 2012 and a review conducted by the Commission on the implementation of the […]