What Is The National Crime Agency Doing To Tackle Money Laundering -London Registrars Ltd
by Liz Seyi Digital marketing managerWe
have previously written here on
the London Registrars blog about the very genuine threat that continues
to be posed by money laundering to the UK’s national security, prosperity and
reputation around the world.
In
that piece, we touched on how money laundering arises, why the UK’s openness to
entrepreneurs and business owners comparative to many other jurisdictions can
make it a particular target for money laundering, and the steps our team here
at the London Registrars take to guard against illegal activity.
All
of this, however, raises another important question: what is the UK’s lead
agency against organised crime, cybercrime and economic crime – the National
Crime Agency (NCA) – doing to address the country’s money-laundering risk?
Creating
a “hostile environment” for would-be money launderers
The
NCA has said that it aims to make the UK a “hostile environment” for money
laundering through the implementation of the following measures:
- the targeting of individuals
involved in money laundering so that they can be prosecuted and convicted,
and their methods disrupted
- the recovery and confiscation
of assets
- the training of financial
investigators from across law enforcement in the UK
- putting in place barriers to
the potential abuse of the UK financial system
The
agency has stated that it proactively tackles illicit finance to deny the
assets of politically-exposed persons (PEPs) and corrupt elites of a range of
jurisdictions. It has also said that it is actively looking at how new
legislative powers from the Criminal Finances Act could be used; it is possible
to recover criminal assets with the help of Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs),
and the NCA has made a “number” of applications for UWOs since the provisions
came into force.
In
addition, the NCA has said it has made multiple successful Account Freezing
Orders (AFOs), as a means of freezing millions of pounds in accounts.
The
ever-more international nature of finance – entailing the swift transferral of
money and assets between jurisdictions, products and services – has led to the
NCA working closely alongside domestic and international partners to address
the threat of money laundering around the globe.
The
agency has described private-sector engagement as “critical” to efforts to
effectively tackle money laundering. To this end, the agency cooperates with
major financial institutions to allow it to pinpoint and disrupt instances of
money laundering in both the UK and other territories.
What
else has the agency said about its anti-money-laundering activities?
The
NCA has further commented about its measures against money laundering: “By
identifying and arresting money launderers, we are able to disrupt further
criminal activity, as well as making the UK a difficult environment for those
who seek to use it to launder criminal finances.
“Working
in partnership with other law enforcement and private sector organisations will
help us support financial institutions’ own efforts, provide training and
insight to help financial personnel to spot the signs of money laundering, and
develop new ways to identify and arrest offenders.”
The
agency further stated that the recovery and confiscation of criminal assets
aided its efforts to prevent criminal networks from continuing their use of
money laundering routes.
London
Registrars can help your firm achieve the highest standards of governance and
compliance
A
complete range of company secretarial services is available from our team to
ensure your organisation continues to meet its own legal, compliance and
business obligations.
With
our solutions encompassing registered office addresses, directors’ service
addresses, minute-book maintenance, register
of shareholders maintenance,
and much more, we would be pleased to advise and assist if you do reach out to our skilled
and experienced compliance professionals.
Sponsor Ads
Created on Jan 28th 2022 00:52. Viewed 194 times.