Day: January 10, 2020

TUNISIA: FATF AML/CFT ASSESSMENT FOLLOW-UP REPORT

On 7 January, FATF published the 4th follow-up report on Tunisia, following its mutual evaluation in 2016.  The ratings for 9 FATF Recommendations have been upgraded to “compliant” or “largely compliant”.   However, Tunisia will remain in enhanced follow-up and should submit its next enhanced follow-up report to FATF in November 2020.

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/fur/MENAFATF-FUR-Tunisia-2020.pdf

tunisia

UK BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING REQUIREMENT CHANGES

A news releases from Companies House on 10 January advised that organisations supervised under AML legislation will need to report certain persons of significant control (PSC) discrepancies to Companies House under EU 5th AML Directive requirements implemented from 10 January.  The requirement extends to any obliged entity required to carry out CDD under AML regulations. These entities include –

  • credit institutions
  • financial institutions
  • auditors, external accountants and tax advisors
  • notaries and other independent legal professionals
  • trust or company service providers
  • estate agents, including when acting as intermediaries
  • other persons trading goods in cash amounting to 10,000 euros or more
  • gambling services
  • exchange services between virtual and fiat currencies
  • custodian wallet providers
  • art dealers in galleries and auction houses
  • art dealers in free ports

It is said that discrepancies must be reported if there’s a material difference between the institution’s and Companies House sets of information. Companies House will investigate these discrepancies and, if necessary, contact the company.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-reporting-requirement-for-obliged-entities-comes-into-force

It also released guidance on how to tell Companies House if the information held as an obliged entity, about a beneficial owner is different from the information on the people with significant control (PSC) register.  It says that it will investigate the discrepancy and, if it is valid, it will contact the company to ask for their comments and request that they resolve the discrepancy to make sure the PSC register is up to date.  The company will not be informed that a discrepancy report has been made about their PSC register information, but Companies House will tell the obliged entity the outcome of the investigation.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-a-discrepancy-about-a-beneficial-owner-on-the-psc-register-by-an-obliged-entity

GUIDANCE ON NEW UK AML REGIME COULD TAKE MONTHS TO ARRIVE

On 9 January, the Law Society Gazette reported that official guidance on how to comply with the new AML regime coming in to force from 10 January may not be available for months, the Solicitors Regulation Authority admitted.  It also said that that its enforcement activity will take into account the ‘limited time that firms have had to prepare’ for the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/guidance-on-new-aml-regime-could-take-months/5102676.article