May 20, 2022 The FCA unveils new reporting platform for sanctions breaches By Neill Blundell Francis Bond Georgia O'Connor The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a new financial sanctions evasion reporting platform for regulated entities, in a bid...
May 04, 2022 The Chancellor announces a £25 million “fraud squad” to recover £5 billion By Lorna Emson Max Hobbs Georgia O'Connor The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a new “fraud squad” to recover money stolen from the state-backed Covid Bounce Back Loan...
Mar 10, 2022 The Economic Crime Bill: passed at rapid speed By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs The House of Commons passed the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (ECB) on Monday, after an extraordinarily speedy...
Aug 13, 2021 Get ready to provide personal details when transferring digital assets By Macfarlanes With the ongoing bull run in the cryptocurrency market, governments around the world have been scrambling to regulate the market: China...
Jul 06, 2021 A new FCA Technical Note for cannabis-related businesses listing in the UK By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a Primary Market Technical Note to give further guidance for cannabis-related...
May 18, 2021 The first buds of spring: new cannabis company float shows take up of FCA listing rules By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs Those who work in the nascent legal cannabis industry in the UK, including investors and advisors, will be interested to note that a new...
May 12, 2021 Not so wise: the FCA imposes a new fine for anti-money laundering failings By Lorna Emson Max Hobbs The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed a £178,000 fine (reduced from £236,740 to avoid serious financial hardship) on Sapien...
Jan 14, 2021 No expansion of the failure to prevent offence... for now By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs FCA-regulated companies have been given a reprieve, as an amendment to the Financial Services Bill 2019–21 (FSB), which would have...
Jan 11, 2021 Green shoots: recent developments in the legal cannabis industry By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs Investing legally in the cannabis industry has troubled many UK investors and investment managers over the last couple of years. This is...
Jan 07, 2021 Cleaning the laundry: HMRC issues record fines for anti-money laundering failures By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs It has been revealed that last year HMRC imposed a record fine of £23,828,092 on a money services business for anti-money laundering...
Dec 21, 2020 The Unexplained Wealth Order reigns Supreme: the Supreme Court upholds the first ever UWO By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs The UK Supreme Court has dismissed the final appeal made against the first ever Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) obtained by the National...
Dec 18, 2020 Anti-money laundering teams take note: the UK publishes its national risk assessment for money laundering By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs The UK Government has published its third National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing (NRA).This should be of...
Dec 16, 2020 Transparan-sea: UK Overseas Territories commit to publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs All the inhabited Overseas Territories (OTs) of the United Kingdom (UK) have committed to adopting publicly accessible registers of...
Nov 24, 2020 Record number of money laundering reports submitted in the UK By Neill Blundell Helen Harvey The 2020 Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Annual Report was published on 19 November, reporting a record number of SARs. SARs must be...
Nov 04, 2020 Art attack: sanctions risk in the art world By Helen Harvey Neill Blundell The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an advisory on 30 October to highlight sanctions risks...
Oct 08, 2020 The NCA obtains its first forfeiture of property using a UWO By Neill Blundell Max Hobbs On 7 October, the National Crime Agency (NCA) announced that for the first time it has successfully used an Unexplained Wealth Order...