Anti-Money Laundering Bulletin
Winter 2022DLA Piper's Financial Services Regulatory team welcomes you to the January 2022 edition of our Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Bulletin. In this issue, we provide updates on AML developments in the UK, the EU and internationally.
In the UK, we provide insights on the supervisory activity of the Financial Conduct Authority in the area of AML for the period 2019-2020. In 2021, the FCA undertook its first criminal prosecution for breaches of the money laundering regulatory requirements against a UK bank – signalling an increasingly tougher approach regarding AML failings in the banking sector. Looking at the year ahead, we also discuss the key areas relating to financial crime more broadly that the UK government is expected to focus on in the course of 2022.
In the EU, the European Banking Authority has published draft guidelines on the use of remote customer onboarding solutions by financial services firms. The guidelines aim to streamline the approach by EU supervisory authorities by putting in place shared standards for market participants and regulators across the EU.
Digital assets remain a key area of focus, with the US Department of Justice launching a cryptocurrency enforcement team with responsibility for investigating and prosecuting criminal misuses of cryptocurrency. On an international level, the Financial Action Task Force has published updated guidance on AML requirements for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, which clarifies important questions for the industry in evolving areas, such as stablecoins, peer‑to‑peer transactions, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralised finance (DeFi).
We hope you find this update helpful. Your feedback is important to us, so if you have any comments or would like any further information, please contact one of the people listed at the end of the bulletin.
