Money laundering regime hampering UK business

The private sector is being unnecessarily burdened by a duty to report minor regulatory breaches to the relevant authorities under the government’s money laundering and terrorist financing regime.

A report by the House of Lords EU Committee into the approach taken within the UK was critical of the “all crimes” regime currently in operation. Contrary to support from the British Bankers Association and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, the Law Society said in its evidence that a well regulated market is not necessarily being enhanced by the current system. Law Society president, Des Hudson, told the committee that the all-embracing definition of property resulted in the inclusion of criminal property deriving from a wide number of regulatory offences which could not have been intended to be within the focus of the strategy.

Hudson also raised the issue of the financial burden placed on the private sector by the anti-money laundering regime. Evidence presented to the committee suggested a disproportionate burden on