This article relates members of one of our Managed Services
Key Information
All accountants and bookkeepers must comply with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Terrorism Act 2000 and most recently, the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (the “Anti Money Laundering Legislation”), which are intended to stop the activities of terrorists and other criminals, by preventing them from using accountancy services.
If we do not comply with this legislation, we risk imprisonment, as well as the individual involved.
In order to comply with these rules, we have to confirm your identity. At any time we may also need to obtain evidence confirming the identities of third parties, the source of any money or funding of property or other assets, and other matters.
AML Checks are identity checks, not credit checks or searches.
They will not impact your ability to take out credit at a later time.
What information do I need?
We use a third party provider to check identities, which involves a short process where you’ll be asked to upload photos to confirm who you are. This may also involve taking a selfie, or additional security steps.
Our provider will then run anti-money laundering checks on your, and record findings using the latest data and using various Government services to confirm your identity.
This can all be carried out on any modern smartphone, and usually takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
We may need to re-run these checks periodically to ensure that no changes have happened, and we’ll let you know if we need any further information.
Important Information
We always assume that all of our members are honest and law abiding. However, should we have grounds to suspect that a crime is being committed, we are obliged to make a report to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
We are prohibited by the legislation from telling you that we have done this. In such circumstances, we cannot offer any further services for you without consent from NCA.
‘Criminal property’ is money, property, other assets, rights or any benefit derived from criminal activity. Activity is considered ‘criminal’ if it is a crime under UK law, no matter how trivial.
Tax evasion is a criminal offence but an honest mistake is not.
It does not matter who carried out the criminal activity. Even if you are honest in your dealings, if anything represents a benefit from someone else’s crime, we must still make a report.
Disclaimer: We will not be liable for any loss suffered by you or any third party as a result of our compliance with the Anti Money Laundering Legislation or any UK law.