The 2012 edition of the FATF 40 Recommendations provide a set of counter-measures against money laundering covering the criminal justice system and law enforcement, the financial system and its regulation.
All Financial Services Authority-regulated firms who are subject to the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 must put in place systems and controls to prevent and detect financial crime and money laundering.
Warren Russell, director at W2 Global Data Solutions, said: “Until recently, independent financial Professionals have struggled to perform adequate due diligence sticking with old “know your customer” methods and have simply not been able to access relevant cost effective data.
“Major online providers of such services have typically priced themselves out of this important sector of the financial community.
“Yes there are companies out there who provide simple sanctions checks and the HM Treasury Sanctions list can even be accessed and searched free of charge. However anti money laundering checks do not stop at sanctions.”
Russell added that cost as well as time constraints had all too often stopped adequate due diligence checks being performed.
He said: “The requirement is now getting tighter. Financial institutions and professionals need to adopt due diligence processes in relation to corporate clients, unearth any international operations of their clients and also understand far more clearly who and what they are dealing with.
“A failure to comply with these obligations can carry serious consequences. For example criminal penalties could be sought by the government and a breach of the guidelines could ultimately result in a criminal offence being committed, potentially leading to reputational damage to the firm in question.
“A simple check on W2’s Screen and Verify Identity will allow mortgage brokers and other financial services professionals to instantly cross reference a whole range of data sources of their choice.”
