How are money laundering and terrorism financing laws evolving and what impact does this have on regulated entities?

Historically, AML/CFT laws have applied to financial services and gaming businesses, collectively known as Tranche 1 but recent scandals like the Panama Papers has seen a growing trend to expand these laws to new industry sectors

Every 3-4 years, the FATF conducts mutual evaluation reports on each of its 200+ member countries and reports back on the effectiveness of the AML regime, which has seen many governments heavily criticised for not adequately addressing the issue.

This has resulted in international governments introducing AML/CFT laws to a much wider set of ‘gatekeeper’ industry sectors, collectively known as Tranche 2, including:

• Lawyers
• Accountants
• Real Estate Professionals
• High-Value Dealers – precious metal/stone dealers, motor vehicle dealers, boat dealers, art dealers etc.

There will be millions of newly regulated businesses over the next few years that will face significant challenges in designing and operationalising effective AML Programs.