- Publication Date
- 2021-07-18
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) conducted an audit and discovered that the law firm failed to comply with regulations related to anti-money laundering. The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017) came into force in June 2017. Law firms engaged in specific activities are required to comply with the MLRs 2017, including carrying out a risk assessment to identify and assess risks of money laundering and terrorist financing (the AML firm-wide risk assessment).
The SRA had asked these firms to complete a declaration confirming a compliant anti-money laundering firm-wide risk assessment by January 2020. The law firm did not submit the declaration until May 2021, a breach of the regulations.
The law firm was directed to pay a penalty of £800 and costs of £600.