4MLD – a year in review

More than 12 months after the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive was implemented in the United Kingdom, the current AML regime is acknowledged as woefully inadequate for the extent of the challenge. Indeed, enforcement director Mark Steward has announced the possibility of criminal prosecutions by the financial conduct regulator against a small number of firms. Nicola Finnerty provides an update of current problems and coming changes.

Nicola Finnerty is a criminal litigation partner at law firm Kingsley Napley. Contact her on nfinnerty@kingsleynapley.co.uk.

Lack of progress?

The economic crime inquiry currently beingundertaken by the Treasury Committee was told in no uncertain terms about the scale of money laundering and the UK’s commitment to fighting it. The National Crime Agency’s director for prosperity command (covering economic crime) stated that “Money laundering is a facilitator of almost all serious, organised and major crime. Tackling it is absolutely a strategic priority for law enforcement for the UK, and that is agreed across policing, the National Crime Agency and all of the law enforcement agencies.” [1] However, evidence given to the same committee prior to this by Transparency International and Global Witness gave a different picture. [2] They gave a scathing review of the UK’s fight against economic crime and, in particular, money laundering. It was suggested that there is no sign that the scale of money laundering in the UK is diminishing and that many countries point the finger at the UK as being a facilitator of money laundering.