ACAMS moneylaundering.com spoke with the co-head of the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office's bribery and corruption unit, Ben Morgan, about his hopes of securing the U.K.'s first deferred prosecution agreement with a corporate.
With the polls close and voter turnout expected to be around 97 percent, Scotland's referendum on independence is an event rife with uncertainties. One exception: "yes" will mean rethinking the country's banking sector.
The United Kingdom Tuesday outlined how it might soon get tougher on tax cheats through revised penalties and clearer standards for criminal prosecutions when individuals are aided by commercial advisors.
Britains chief regulator of financial institutions outlined plans to tackle money laundering in the coming year, when it will for the first time police over 50,000 companies that offer consumer credit.
A decision by the United Kingdom's financial regulator to disclose which banks it is investigating for potential infractions could lead to a slew of legal problems for the agency, say attorneys.
A new practice by the United Kingdom's chief anti-money laundering regulator that embeds exam teams within large banks has some compliance officers concerned that their costs and exposure to penalties could skyrocket.
The U.K.'s planned new regulator of banks and other financial institutions would impose tougher oversight than its predecessor, a series of proposals for the agency's forthcoming operations handbook show.
U.K. financial regulators will likely only get tougher on British banks that violate anti-money laundering laws in the coming year, possibly going so far as to prosecute individuals, according to Jonathan Fisher QC, a London-based barrister.
A recent spate of compliance fines and U.S. investigations has imposed renewed pressure on British banks to improve their anti-money laundering and sanctions programs, say industry sources.
A planned regulatory overhaul, economic sanctions against Iran and the enforcement of anti-bribery rules will be among the biggest issues British financial institutions contend with in 2012, say experts.
The United Kingdom outlined Monday its plans for a new regulatory agency that will oversee consumer protection regulations and anti-money laundering compliance programs at banks.
A new British bank regulator that will assume the Financial Services Authority's oversight duties is unlikely to tighten anti-money laundering compliance regulation for financial institutions, say consultants.