The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) have just published a report criticizing a number of major banks’ shortcomings in dealing with the threat of money laundering. Some of the key findings include:

• Long term risk of association with the counterparty was rarely considered if short-term risk was deemed to be low.
• Even when counterparties were determined to be high risk, effective enhanced due diligence (EDD) measures were not properly implemented.
• Shortcomings in the banks’ ability to properly identify politically exposed persons (PEPs) and mitigate this risk effectively.
• Ongoing due diligence practices were insufficient when dealing with higher risk counterparties .
• General anti money laundering (AML) culture was weak, with many not recognising the actual threat this posed.

QGen offers a wide range of services to help companies deal with the threat of money laundering and terrorist financing – a danger to all companies whether regulated or not. QGen’s management team has extensive hands on experience, in a variety of industries, implementing and managing effective AML programmes. Some of the services we offer include: