ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has raised significant concerns about government proposals, unveiled today, for the Financial Conduct Authority to become the sole anti-money laundering regulator for all professional services firms. 

Currently firms in the accountancy and legal sectors are supervised by their relevant professional body, which helps firms understand their obligations under money laundering regulations, and takes enforcement action if firms breach the rules. 

Maggie McGhee, ACCA’s executive director of strategy and governance, said: ‘We wholeheartedly support the government’s fight against economic crime, but we don’t agree that transferring anti-money laundering supervision responsibilities to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the right approach. Making this change would be a very significant administrative challenge involving increased costs and data risks. 

‘The FCA would have to build expertise across a wide range of different sectors, professions and sizes of business, and much valuable existing expertise would be lost, increasing the risk of economic crime rather than reducing it.’ 

‘Ultimately, we believe this change is likely to reduce the effectiveness of anti-money laundering enforcement, which goes against the public interest.’ 

ACCA points out that professional bodies have built up specialised knowledge of their sectors and the specific circumstances that lead to increased money laundering risks in them, dealing with a wide range of firms, from sole practitioners to global giants. The expertise and focus required would be hard to build up and replicate in a larger regulator. 

It is also concerned about the lack of detail in the government’s proposals, particularly around costs, timing and what happens during the interim while the new arrangements are put in place.  

‘These proposals go against the spirit of the government’s stated intention to reduce the regulatory burden,’ added Maggie McGhee, pointing out that the change will increase regulatory fragmentation for professional services firms who may now have to deal with an additional regulator on top of their professional body. 

ACCA will be seeking further clarification on behalf of its members. Its response to the government’s 2023 consultation on this issue can be found here.

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About ACCA

We are ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), the only truly global professional accountancy body. Since we were founded in 1904, we’ve been breaking down barriers to the accountancy profession. Today we proudly support a diverse community of over 257,900 members and 530,100 future members in 180 countries.
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