The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its first annual report into Anti Money Laundering (AML).  The report covers the FCA’s rights and responsibilities with respect to AML as well as looking at trends and emerging risks.

Some sections of the report make disturbing reading from the perspective of financial institutions’ risk management.  The report states that in 2011 a thematic review of Banks’ management of high money laundering risk situations revealed that three quarters of banks were not managing AML risks effectively.  More recently a further thematic review into Banks’ control of financial crime risks in trade finance revealed that “most banks, including a number of major UK banks, were not giving adequate attention to money laundering red flags in trade finance transactions.”

The FCA report found weakness across the board in other firms with respect to AML with small firms failing to gather AML information and larger firms tending to gather the information but then failing to assess it properly.  As part of the report the FCA listed four banks (Coutts & Co, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Turkish Bank (UK) Ltd, EFG Private Bank) which had been fined for AML breaches over the past two years and gave notice that a further three banks were under investigation.

If you want to learn more about the latest trends in Anti Money Laundering you can attend a Eureka Financial course on AML.

Eureka Financial offers over 100 public and in-house training courses in banking and finance, corporate finance and M&A, risk management, operations, investments, wealth management, soft skills and management. For more details visit: www.eurekafinancial.com