Revised guidance for the financial crime frontline

“There is a realistic possibility that the scale of money laundering impacting on the UK annually is in the GBP hundreds of billions,” admits the National Crime Agency, and financial services firms are on the frontline of thwarting its entry. Adam Samuel analyses GC18/1 – the Financial Conduct Authority’s latest attempt to update its financial crime guidance, as well as introduce material on insider dealing and market manipulation.

Adam SamuelBA LLM DipPFS MCISI FCIArb Certs CII (MP&ER) Barrister and Attorney may be contacted atadamsamuel@aol.com.For links to where you can buy the second edition of ‘Consumer Financial Services Complaints and Compensation’, see www.adamsamuel.com/book.

This much-neglected part of the Handbook describes what firms are supposed to do to reduce the risks of being used to commit financial crime. It is a curious work. The first half makes some fairly general statements about what firms can do in this area in terms of building systems and controls. The second contains various thematic review reports produced by both the FCA and Financial Services Authority regarding various aspects of financial crime.