The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is expanding its programme of visits to law firms over the next year. These include an in depth examination of the firm’s compliance documentation and interviews with fee earners. In some cases this may lead to further regulatory investigations. We have advised many firms on AML compliance since 2003 and on responding to, and achieving a successful conclusion to, investigations.
Several documents have been published since our last edition, and links are on www.legalrisk.co.uk/News. These include –
- Basel AML index 2021 : 10th Public Edition, Ranking money laundering and terrorist financing risks around the world
- UK Finance paper, Making sense of the financial crime risk posed by cryptoassets and how to manage it appropriately
- Office for Professional Body AML Supervision (OPBAS) Annual report 2021
- SRA First annual report on money laundering pursuant to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019
- Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) Annual Review: 2020 to 2021
- Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Public Statement on Pandora Papers
- FATF Updated Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers