On July 18th, after completing a multi-firm review, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released its assessment of how well firms are following its current guidance on the treatment of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and their Relatives and Close Associates (RCAs) for anti-money laundering purposes. The following post provides a summary of how well firms have performed.
The current media interest in the banking arrangements of Nigel Farage has highlighted some of the challenges faced by financial institutions when deciding which new customers to take on and which customers to keep.
Understanding where compliance risks are lurking in your business, and whether or not the controls in the first and second lines of defence are effectively mitigating those risks is of critical importance to Compliance Heads and Senior Management.
“Businesses need to take basic steps to investigate their own potential links to sanctioned Russian businesses and individuals, or else face the potential for what should be an avoidable worst-case scenario…You are supposed to be screening absolutely everyone you do business with — suppliers, customers and partners. This is a strict liability, and it doesn’t matter if you didn’t know.” …
