New legislation to tackle money laundering and other financial fraud came into force last week in the shape of the Criminal Finances Act 2017, but how effective will it be? Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher QC and Anita Clifford cast a critical eye over the new arrangements, highlighting the practical impact on lawyers, estate agents and financial sector professionals. Two significant changes are the new ability to share suspicions between regulated persons and for a court to extend the ‘no action’ period when a Suspicious Activity Report—but how this will work in practice is uncertain (see Suspicions, privacy & money laundering).
20 October 2017
Suspicions, privacy & money laundering
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston
Harneys senior leadership appointments
Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan
Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires
Anthony Collins—Laura Moss
Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector
NEWS
More than 100 teams from the legal and financial services sectors competed in five sports at the 51st Law Society RFC Festival of Sport earlier this month
Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
