The world of electronic verification is an ever-evolving industry, with some providers supporting features like facial recognition, authentication of documents, direct access bank account information, and PEP and Sanctions screening.Electronic verification should provide you with a level of certainty that the individual is who they say they are and, for…
Buying properties with funds from China
Well, the NCA certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons recently at The Law Society’s Anti Money Laundering Conference.This is something I’ve been talking to clients about for about 5 years. In that time there have been some misunderstandings, both on the part of practitioners and law enforcement.The issue surrounds…
What happens to GDPR on exit day?
GDPR during the transition periodAs we’re all well aware, the UK will finally leave the European Union later today. The UK and the EU will then have until 31 December 2020 (the “transition period”, provided for in the withdrawal agreement) to negotiate an agreement setting out their future relationship. This…
Preventing a repeat of Dreamvar
Dreamvar – more than a year on …….. so, what has changed?It’s likely most conveyancers will shudder when they hear the name Dreamvar. It’s the case that changed the liabilities and responsibilities of lawyers and conveyancers when dealing with residential property transactions. But in practice, what has actually changed since…
Conflict checking ….. Are law firms getting it right?
Having worked in several different law firms over the past 10 years, it has been interesting to see how each firm has dealt with conflict checking differently.Many medium to large law firms have teams running conflict checks for the firm. From my experience however in many of these firms the…
Suspicious Minds – what is the definition of suspicion?
The AML legislation imposes a positive duty on lawyers, in certain circumstances, to report any suspicion that their client is engaged in money laundering. Given that such a duty is, on the face of it, in conflict with fundamental obligations on solicitors to act in the best interests of their…
Top Tips for AML Compliance
In this series, I cover my Top Tips for AML Compliance, here are the first 10……1) Evidencing you have taken your supervisor’s risk assessment into account when preparing your own. All firms must have regard to their supervisor’s risk assessment when preparing their own. (Reg18(2)) Make sure it is mentioned…
Human trafficking and how to spot it
Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing illegal enterprises in the world (after drug trafficking). The statistics show the true extent of the problem – a joint report produced by FATF and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (AGF) in June 2018 linking money laundering and human trafficking showed…
The ICO has teeth, and is not afraid to use them!
So, we all knew that the ICO had been equipped with a fine set of gnashers by the GDPR and DPA legislation. What we didn’t know was what it would take to get them to bare them or actually use them. Or what the consequences of an ICO mastication would…
Ark Group Conference Panel
I attended the Ark Group Annual AML Conference in London yesterday to speak on the panel about the challenges for MLROs who are also fee earners in their firm.The session posed questions to the audience, and we, the panel, put our two penneth in.Joining me on the panel was Alex…