It is thought that the scale of money laundering affecting the UK annually is in the hundreds of billions of pounds. Unfortunately, legal professionals are at risk of being targeted for their skills and services to hold or transfer money because of the perceived legitimacy this offers. It is vital therefore that law firms understand their regulatory and legal obligations, and that related activity is closely monitored.
CILEX became an approved anti-money laundering (AML) supervisory authority in 2015 and is listed as a Professional Body in Schedule 1 of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs). In line with other regulatory functions, CILEX delegates AML supervisory activities and functions to CILEx Regulation (CRL) including risk assessment, monitoring and enforcement, as set out in the Internal Governance rules.
This annual report contains information on CRL’s Anti-money laundering supervisory activity for 2021/2022. It identifies areas for development for CRL’s AML supervision in 2022/23 and also covers sanctions related supervisory work undertaken in 2022 outside of the reporting dates.
Jonathan Rees, CRL Chair commented:
“This report continues to show the collaboration between CILEx Regulation and the other supervisors, as well as HM Treasury and OPBAS, in developing the supervision of individuals and firms. We welcome the focus on demonstrating our effectiveness, through the actions we have taken, and the resources provided to our supervised community.”
Access full report
Further resources
Anti-Money Laundering CRL webpage
