The announcement was made in a speech on national security to the Royal United Services Institute in London,
The revised JMLSG guidance will change the way that money laundering/terrorist financing risk is managed in the UK, affecting the way many firms operate and deal with customers. The new guidance will enable the UK financial services industry to take a sharper, risk-based approach to the international fight against financial crime.
Placing individual firms’ approach firmly on their senior management, it will allow firms to focus their resources on the minority of customers who represent a higher risk reduce the documentation needed to verify the identity of non-personal customers simplify the document requirements by which most individuals have to ‘prove’ their identity encourage wider use of electronic means of verification of identity reduce unnecessary duplication of identity checks provide additional guidance, tailored to particular business areas, to take account of special features in a number of sectors.
Firms will have a six month transitional period in which to implement changes in procedures, although some firms may do so more quickly.
Ian Mullen, chairman of the JMLSG, said:
“We have taken a radical approach. The guidance allows firms to counter money laundering and terrorist financing in a more proportionate, risk-based way, making better use of modern technology. The new guidance has been subject to public consultation, and to detailed discussion across a broad section of the industry, and with government, regulators and law enforcement. I am grateful to the editorial panel for all the hard work put into the preparation of the new guidance”
