Anti-money laundering on the agenda

A withering report from the FSA in June on banks’ anti-money laundering performance and the likelihood of enforcement action against at least two institutions are very good reasons to revisit your firm’s controls in this area. Peter Ray outlines lessons to be learnt when dealing with high risk clients.

Peter Ray (peter.ray@kinetic-partners.com) is director of regulatory consulting and compliance at professional services firm Kinetic Partners. He is a qualified chartered accountant who has previously worked as a compliance officer at Barings and Bank One, as well as at the SFA, the FSA’s predecessor.

The recent report by the FSA on high risk money laundering situations raises some key issues that all firms who deal with potential politically exposed persons (PEPs) or have interactions with correspondent banks should heed. This will be an area of increased FSA scrutiny given the serious concerns that have been highlighted.