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UK House of Lords select committee calls for introduction of mandatory human rights due diligence

November 7, 2024

The committee emphasizes that businesses must be legally required to conduct thorough checks on their operations and supply chains to identify and address any potential human rights violations, including forced labor and exploitation. This recommendation highlights the growing pressure on businesses to take proactive responsibility for the human rights impacts of their activities, as the UK government seeks to align more closely…

Gambling Commission publishes its 2024 Young People and Gambling Report, its annual study into children’s and young people’s exposure to, and involvement in, all types of gambling

November 7, 2024

The research was conducted in schools, with pupils completing online self-completion surveys in class. The study collected data from a sample of 3,869 11 to 17 year olds between January and June 2024. Headline statistics include: 27 percent of young people spent their own money on gambling in the 12 months prior to taking part in the survey; the most common types of gambling activity that young people spent their own money on were legal or did not feature age restricted products…

HM Treasury issues guidance on the offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud’ introduced by ECCTA

November 6, 2024

Under the offence, which was created by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, an organisation may be criminally liable where an employee, agent, subsidiary, or other “associated person”, commits a fraud intending to benefit the organisation and the organisation did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place.

SRA releases its latest AML Annual Report 2023-24, showing increased regulatory action against firms

November 5, 2024

Report shows that in 2023/24 the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) took regulatory action against firms in relation to anti-money laundering breaches in 78 cases – an increase on the previous year (47). In more than half of the cases, the most common breaches related to firms having inadequate risk assessments or AML controls. 44 fines were issued, totalling £556,832.

UK PM announces further funding for the National Crime Agency (NCA) and new migration returns figures

November 4, 2024

The Prime Minister has announced two new elements of this government’s approach to boost border security and restore order to the asylum system – a £58 million boost for the National Crime Agency (NCA) and new figures showing 9,400 people with no right to be here have been returned since the government took power.

Legal Futures admits that one in five law firms are fully compliant with AML regulations

November 4, 2024

Only 22% of law firms inspected by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) last year were fully compliant with AML rules. The SRA’s annual AML report revealed a significant increase in enforcement actions against firms and individuals. Non-compliance was primarily due to inadequate focus by senior executives, insufficient training and supervision, and ineffective systems that allowed unchecked transactions…

FCA fines Starling Bank £28.96m for serious shortcomings in its AML systems, notably regarding financial sanctions screening and the identification of beneficial owners and high-risk individuals

October 28, 2024

Deficiencies detected include Starling only screened its customers against the sanctions records for individuals who were known to reside or have links to the UK. A misconfiguration in the screening system that had existed since 20 July 2017 resulted in customers or prospective customers only being screened against individuals on the Consolidated List…

FCA cracks down on unregulated “finfluencers” promoting illegal financial products on social media, increasing scrutiny and taking legal action against those violating regulations

October 26, 2024

The FCA issued 38 alerts on social media accounts run by finfluencers suspected of promoting financial products illegally as scams increasingly impact young people. With 62% of 18-29-year-olds following influencers and many trusting their advice finfluencers’ promotions can significantly shape financial decisions…

Home Office announces a new charter with the insurance sector to clampdown on fraud at the Joint Fraud Taskforce meeting

October 26, 2024

The new voluntary charter is designed to identify loopholes in the insurance market, enhance collaboration and criminal justice outcomes, better understand the scale of the problem and improve victim support. The charter covers the vast majority of the insurance sector ranging from general insurance firms to underwriters and has the backing of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, London & International Insurance Brokers’ Association, Lloyd’s of London, Lloyd’s Market Association and the International Underwriting Association, alongside ABI.

HMRC updates its Economic Crime Supervision Handbook

October 25, 2024

The aim of the EC-S handbook is to give you clear and comprehensive guidance on how to undertake your role within EC-S. It will help you understand the legislation, how our policies work and how they should be applied. It will also explain how to apply the sanctions framework and the powers available for you to use under the MLR2017…

FCA fines Volkswagen Finance £5.4m for failing to treat its customers in financial difficulty fairly

October 24, 2024

Volkswagen Finance failed to consider customers unique situations resulting in the wrongful repossession of vehicles from vulnerable individuals many of whom depended on their cars for work. Volkswagen Finance implemented a compensation scheme, enhanced staff training, and revamped its debt collections approach. Therese Chambers from the FCA underscored the critical role cars play in people’s lives and called attention to how…

Meta expands its partnership with UK banks through the FIRE programme to combat online scams, enabling intelligence-sharing that has led to the removal of thousands of fraudulent accounts

October 22, 2024

The Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) programme, allows banks to share intelligence with us directly to combat scams on our platforms. The early stage of this pilot has already led us to take action against thousands of accounts run by scammers, with approximately 20,000 accounts removed based on data shared…

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