The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority logged its most prolific year to date in terms of enforcement in 2021, issuing seven financial crime-related penalties for a record total value of nearly £480 million, up from one penalty for £102 million in 2019 and two for £86 million in 2020. Claire Lipworth, former chief criminal counsel at the FCA, told ACAMS moneylaundering.com that in public pronouncements and supervisory interactions, the agency focused on whether firms had employed an effective "three lines of defense" model against financial crime, undertook meaningful risk assessments, and ensured their senior managers grasped their institution's vulnerabilities to illicit finance...
Anti-money laundering enforcement in Europe trended downward in 2020 but remained high overall, according to data compiled by ACAMS moneylaundering.com, and a previously dormant, seemingly lenient Nordic regulator led the pack.
2019 was a remarkable year for Europe in terms of anti-money laundering and sanctions enforcement, marked by Transatlantic cooperation against illicit finance, a high-profile banishment from the Baltics and record penalties in France.
Eighty-six of the record 504 investigations the U.K. FCA was pursuing as of Apr. 1, 2018 targeted suspected financial crimes, compared to 56 such cases at the same point in 2018 and just 20 in 2016, according to the agency and data reviewed by ACAMS moneylaundering.com.
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