The Third Money Laundering Directive

The UK Government has issued draft regulations for the purpose of implementing the EU's Third Money Laundering Directive

27 Feb 2007

When finalised, before the end of 2007, these new regulations will replace the Money Laundering Regulations 2003.

The Directive requires member states to make the following changes to their existing anti-money laundering controls:

in specified cases, eg in respect of prospective clients which are listed companies, regulated persons may be allowed to carry out what is called 'simplified due diligence', meaning that the standard procedures can be modified
in other cases, eg where a prospective client is classed as a 'politically-exposed person', regulated persons will have to carry out 'enhanced due diligence', meaning that they will have to undertake additional checks on the client
there will be a general rule to the effect that, in carrying out due diligence checks on prospective clients, the regulated person will be entitled to adopt a risk-based approach as regards the level of detail that he may look for
all persons who are regulated for money laundering purposes will need to be monitored and supervised for their compliance with the statutory rules. In the case of ACCA, it will assume responsibility for this function with regard to its own members.

The draft regulations are out for consultation until 2 April 2007. They can be accessed via the HM Treasury web site at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

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