The AML umbrella continues to open

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JWG analysis. Last week we wrote about thwarting financial crime through suspicious transaction reports (STRs) in the UK, and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) concern over the integrity, accuracy and coverage of STRs.  On the other side of the Atlantic, FinCEN is proposing to extend their anti-money laundering (AML) regime to investment advisers.   Closing

AMLD IV: another brick in the wall

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JWG analysis. Since 2008, regulators have been plugging the gaps revealed by the global financial crisis and have just put another brick in the financial services wall – the 4th Money Laundering Directive. Last month, the much anticipated ‘IV’ was published in the official journal and will become the law of the land in 2

What if your investment-based crowdfunding platform is operating outside the scope of MiFID?

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JWG analysis. Today ESMA published a Q&A, aiming to clarify the status of investment-based crowdfunding platforms which are outside the scope of MiFID and, therefore, not automatically subject to rules designed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing under AMLD III. Investment-based crowdfunding platforms can have a different regulatory status.  Some are within the scope

Get your MiFID II KYC checklist for 2016

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JWG analysis. JWG’s recent analysis report, the MiFID II KYC mountain, finds that financial institutions have a 12-item checklist to work through for their MiFID II KYC implementation due to the requirement for firms operating in the EU to acquire, document and agree much more information about their customer’s situation and their transacted business by

New EU islands to explore post Easter!

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JWG analysis. We’re used to watching our document trackers spin out of control in so-called ‘quiet’ times.  As we wrote in January, the last 2 weeks of 2014 year saw global FS regulators pump out over 4,000 pages. These Easter holidays were little better with 2,000 pages of regulatory text released in two weeks.  It

KYC regulatory challenges: on deck and ready to go?

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JWG analysis. Firms have plenty of planes in the air right now.  The regulatory pressure on firms to ‘get KYC right’ in the form of new financial crime regulation, such as FATCA or AMLD IV, and huge fines means they will need to juggle these changes amidst an ongoing regulatory implementation effort. How you need

Knowing the compliant customer in 2016

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JWG analysis. Regulations like FATCA, EMIR and Dodd-Frank have asked us to collect more information on our customers than ever before – but now it’s clear that was just the start of the story.  New regulation finds regulators even hungrier for information on the firm’s relationship with its customer, together with details of how information

Are your regulatory tribes sharing?

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JWG analysis. As we read the comments on our last article on the five tribes of regulatory reform, we were struck by the visceral reaction to the suggestion of sharing the agenda.  “Hands-off, that’s my mortgage you’re messing with“, commented one lawyer.  We wonder, can tribes achieve their overarching regulatory goals if they are NOT

Digital identity – KYC for the digital age?

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By Darragh O’Grady and JWG. Regulatory requirements coming in over the next 3 years will mean firms need to know – and prove that they know – more things about their customer than ever before.  Combined with the growth of ‘digital banking’, firms are now having to innovate on the digital front, whilst ensuring compliance