The UK is reportedly set to adopt the fifth anti-money laundering directive which will help combat money laundering and terrorism funding.
A letter sent to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy MP Margaret Hodge has stated the UK government is expected to adopt the new AML directive, according to a report by the Guardian.
The new directive was brought forward on the back of the increased wave of terrorist attacks and the Panama Papers scandal. 5AML was adopted on 19 April 2018, and is expected to be fully implemented within 18 months after this date.
Changes to the regulation aim to improve counter terrorism financing efforts and increase transparency of financial transactions.
The 5th Anti-Money Laundering directive will:
- enhance the powers of EU Financial Intelligence Units and facilitating their increasing transparency on who really owns companies and trusts by establishing beneficial ownership registers;
- prevent risks associated with the use of virtual currencies for terrorist financing and limiting the use of pre-paid cards;
- improve the safeguards for financial transactions to and from high-risk third countries;
- enhance the access of Financial Intelligence Units to information, including centralised bank account registers.
- ensure centralised national bank and payment account registers or central data retrieval systems in all Member States.
The proposal of the amended directive was presented to the European Commission in July 2016.
Implementation of this directive falls during the UKs planned exit date of the EU, and according to the article Lord Henley said that UK will ‘transpose the directive’
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
