Recent publications come in light of UK’s “greater autonomy” in setting AML and CTF regulations following Brexit.
By Jon Holland, Rob Moulton, and Jonathan Ritson-Candler
Background to the review
On 22 July 2021, HM Treasury published both a Call for Evidence on a review of the UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regulatory and supervisory regime and a Consultation Paper on amendments, to be made via statutory instrument in Spring 2022 (the SI), to the UK’s key piece of AML and CTF legislation, the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, as amended (MLRs 2017). Despite both papers being published concurrently, they are “separate documents with distinct purposes”. The planned amendments to the MLRs 2017 by virtue of the SI are either “time-sensitive” or “relatively minor” and were proposals for change that were already in development. The SI will, therefore, be unaffected by the findings of the Call for Evidence and any amendments to the MLRs 2017 resulting from the Call for Evidence will be made separately.