Home Office written statement – made at on 21 April 2016.
Today, the Government is publishing an Action Plan that sets out the steps that the UK will take to strengthen its response to money laundering and terrorist financing, to protect the safety of its citizens and the integrity of the UK financial system. Copies will be available on Gov.uk and in the House Library.
This Action Plan will tackle all forms of money laundering, with a particular focus on the illicit funds supporting and generating serious and organised crime, which deprives people of their security and prosperity; terrorism, which poses a direct and immediate threat to our domestic security and overseas interests; and the laundering of the proceeds of overseas corruption into or through the UK, which fuels political instability in the source countries.
This Government has already taken significant action to tackle these damaging crimes and to improve the reputation of the UK, including of our financial and professional services industries. The National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (NRA), published in October 2015, was candid and robust in its assessment and set out our current understanding of the risks to the UK and the gaps in our response. The Action Plan addresses the gaps identified.
The Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Summit next month will galvanise the international response to issues including corporate secrecy, government transparency, the enforcement of international anti-corruption laws, and the strengthening of international institutions.
This Action Plan sets out changes that amount to the most significant reform to our anti-money laundering regime for over a decade, since the commencement of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
We will:
Enhance the law enforcement response
The Government has already established a cross-agency taskforce, recently announced by the Prime Minister, to investigate all evidence of illegality that may emerge from the data relating to Mossack Fonseca, the law firm based in Panama.
Improve the effectiveness of the supervisory regime
Increase our international reach
Develop a stronger partnership with the private sector
The reforms to our domestic anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime set out in the Action Plan, coupled with the international leadership being shown by the UK through the Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Summit, will lead to greater disruption of money laundering and terrorist financing activities, the prosecution of those responsible and increased recovery of the proceeds of crime, and a greater protection of the UK financial system.