- Publication Date
- 2024-01-18
An investigation conducted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) revealed that a law firm did not have a firm-wide risk assessment (FWRA) in place until February 2023. The law firm had been involved in applicable work since 2017 but lacked a FWRA when the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017) were implemented in June 2017. The firm established a FWRA shortly after being notified of the SRA's anti-money laundering (AML) review, but it did not fully comply with the MLRs 2017 at that time.
The law firm took steps to amend its FWRA by August 2023, and compliance was achieved by September 2023. Additionally, the firm's policies, controls, and procedures (PCPs) were initially drafted in September 2018 but were deemed inadequate for effectively managing the risk of money laundering, lacking crucial information and guidance. There was no review or update of the PCPs from September 2018 until February 2023.
It was found that between June 2017 and February 2023, the law firm failed to have a FWRA as mandated by Regulation 18 of the MLRs 2017. Furthermore, from February 2023 to August 2023, they did not have an effective FWRA that assessed money laundering risks, considering all relevant risk factors as per Regulation 18(2) of the MLRs 2017.
From June 2017 to September 2018, the law firm also did not establish and maintain sufficient policies, controls, and procedures to mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks, as required by Regulation 19(1)(a) of the MLRs 2017. Between September 2018 and February 2023, the firm failed to regularly review and update these policies as necessitated by Regulation 19(1)(b) of the MLRs 2017.
(The sections regarding the reasons for why a fine is an appropriate outcome, as well as the involved costs, have been omitted. Additionally, any references to specific addresses and individuals have been generalized. The specific SRA codes and principles were not included as per the instructions.).