What is money laundering?

Money laundering means exchanging money or assets that were obtained criminally for money or other assets that are "clean". The clean money or assets don't have an obvious link with any criminal activity. Money laundering also includes money that's used to fund terrorism, however it's obtained.

Why does the UK have money laundering regulations?

The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 implement the EC Third Money Laundering Directive in the UK. Both of these pieces of legislation reflect the recommendations of the international Financial Action Task Force which was set up to tackle money laundering and the financing of terrorism on a worldwide basis. The regulations came into effect on the 15 December 2007 and replaced the 2003 regulations.

What about money laundering regulations in the USA?

In the USA the PATRIOT Act is in force since 2002. This is a federal law that requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. As a consequence, when you apply for a bank account to be opened in the USA, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth and other information that will allow the financial institution to clearly identify you.

We are affected by the new UK regulations.

The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 affect most UK financial businesses, including accountants and tax advisers but also incorporators and mail forwarding service providers. Supervision of the regulations is the responsibility of a number of bodies including HMRC, the office of fair trading (OFT) and the gambling commission.

Because we incorporate companies on behalf of our clients and we provide mail forwarding, secretary and nominee director services, we are supervised by HMRC .

Our premises are registered with HM Customs & Excise for money laundering regulation (company formation, agency, mailbox services) from 15 February 2010.

Our money laundering registration number is 12575398.

Patricia Lafargue, one of our directors, is our appointed nominated officer (MLO). She is in duty for checking the identity of customers and keeping all relevant documents. She must also report any suspicious activity to the Serious Organised Crime Agency .

If anyone in our business knows or suspects that one of our actual or future clients is money laundering or financing terrorism, they must tell our nominated officer. Patricia Lafargue then has to review the information we have received and decide if it needs to be reported immediately or later to the Serious Organised Crime Agency .

Please be aware that once she decides there are reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering she must tell SOCA at the earliest possible opportunity. She will not wait until a transaction has been completed before reporting it.

What are anti money laundering controls?

Anti money laundering controls are in fact strong policies and procedures that businesses like Easy Corp Ltd must put in place in order to comply with the regulations. Specifically, Money Laundering Regulations 2007 set out requirements for relevant businesses to establish and maintain appropriate and risk sensitive policies and procedures relating to:

  › Customer due diligence (also described as "Know Your Customer" policy)
  › Reporting
  › Record keeping
  › Internal control
  › Risk assessment and management
  › Monitoring and management of compliance
  › Internal communication of such policies and procedures

In practice, this involves checking the identities of all customers, keeping records of these checks, monitoring and reporting suspicious activities and maintaining appropriate internal management controls.

Our legal obligations to comply with MLR override our professional duty of confidentiality to our clients.

We retain identification documentation and transactional paperwork as defined within local legislation for the requisite time period. Failure to provide required and/or requested documents or providing false, counterfeit or unverifiable documents is cause for immediate termination of any service. No refunds will be given if any payment has been made. Do not use or apply for our services if you do not, cannot, or are unable to comply with applicable requirements in United Kingdom and in the USA.

Knowledge Base (FAQs) Search