On 20 December 2019, we received a festive treat: the publication of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (the "Regulations"). The Regulations, which will come into force on 10 January 2020, implement the Fifth EU Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/843, "5MLD")) in the UK, and follow a high level consultation in summer 2019. In this briefing we review the changes and new obligations. Read more
Welcome to the December 2019 edition of our corporate crime update - our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Read more
In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for December 2019. Read more
On 31 October 2019, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a circular (Circular) on the use of electronic data storage providers (EDSPs) by licensed corporations (LCs).
In the Circular, the SFC has reminded LCs of their obligation to ensure the preservation and integrity of those records or documents they are required to keep under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (collectively, Regulatory Records) – and stressed that this obligation continues to apply even where LCs rely on EDSPs either exclusively or in conjunction with on-site data hosting. Read more
Welcome to the Autumn 2019 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. This bumper edition covers a number of jurisdictions, and includes content from the summer break. Read more
Following the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering’s inspection of Hong Kong in October and November 2018, their much anticipated Mutual Evaluation Report (Report) on Hong Kong was published on 4 September 2019. Our previous bulletin on 25 June 2019 gave early insights into the expected findings. Read more
In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for September 2019. Read more
In a recent decision, the Commercial Court has upheld a financial institution’s decision to exercise its contractual right to close a customer’s accounts and terminate its relationship without notice, where the financial institution had a suspicion that its customer’s accounts were being used for money laundering purposes: N v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc … Read more
Last Friday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published its money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk assessment report for the stored value facility (SVF) sector in Hong Kong. The latest assessment confirms that the SVF sector continues to carry a medium level of ML/TF risk. While the majority of the sector continues to be … Read more
