Anti-money laundering: the SARs regime
New guidance needed to improve anti-money laundering regime.
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A new advisory board and statutory guidance would reduce wasted time and improve the UK’s ability to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing, the Law Commission has announced.
Money laundering, in particular, is estimated to cost every household in the UK £255 a year and allows criminals to profit from their crimes. Banks and other businesses use suspicious activity reports (SARs) to report cases of suspected money laundering and terrorism financing, to the United Kingdom Financial Intelligence Unit.
However, too many low-quality SARs are submitted to the UKFIU undermining the entire process.
The recommendations are laid out in the report and include:
- the creation of an advisory board
- a standardised form for the submission of SARs
- guidance on key concepts underpinning the regime
Collectively the recommendations are designed to improve the quality of reporting as a whole and reduce the number of reports with limited intel.