Money laundering reporting news 05/01/2009 Data for strict regulation provided by anti-money laundering training

The Times has reported predictions of a regulatory minefield for the Regulated sector in 2009, alongside a warning that watchdogs now enjoy unprecedented levels of access to the reports demanded by money laundering law. This is expected to make attempts at fraud easier to detect, but with the side effect of imposing greater strictures on already-compliant businesses.

Robert Wardle, a former director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said, When credit dries up and management changes, fraud comes to light. There will be lots of material for regulators to look at in 2009. If anti-money laundering training within the Regulated sector has been effective, it means that firms will have created what Wardle describes as warehouses worth of data that regulators are empowered to use in detecting the movement of the proceeds of crime.

Experts differ over whether more financial crime such as money laundering is committed during an economic downturn, or whether straitened circumstances lead to more being discovered. The past year was not without such discoveries; the SFO launched a serious investigation into financial crime in the UK, alongside the first criminal prosecution for insider dealing from the Financial Services Authority, record fines from the Office of Fair Trading, and major investigations from HM Revenue and Customs.

The predicted minefield, so described by Neil Gerrard of DLA Piper, may not be laid only by UK regulators. Lista Cannon, from Fulbright & Jaworski, warned, The increasing cooperation amongst international regulatory bodies means that UK businesses are just as exposed, if not more so, to regulatory matters that originate from outside the UK.

UK businesses within the Regulated sector are therefore well advised to ensure that their anti-money laundering training has prepared their workers to achieve compliance with the sterner international regulatory environment expected in 2009.

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