Summary What Next? Driving dirty money out of the UK financial system has become an increasing priority for the FCA, reflecting the higher profile which money laundering now has in the UK. This profile stems from a variety of sources, including the political focus on tackling the proceeds of crime, media investigations into tax evasion […]

Speaking on 4 April 2019, the head of enforcement for the UK FCA, Mark Steward, warned those subject to the UK’s anti-money laundering regulations that ‘it is time that the FCA gave effect to the full intention of the Money-Laundering Regulations which provides for criminal prosecutions’. He added: ‘[The FCA is] now conducting ‘dual track’ […]

The FCA has published a number of materials relating to its work on the general insurance (GI) sector:   A thematic review report (TR19/2), which sets out the key findings from the FCA’s thematic work on the GI distribution chain, its expectations and next steps. https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/thematic-reviews/tr19-2-general-insurance-distribution-chain   A guidance consultation (GC19/2) on proposed non-Handbook guidance […]

As highlighted earlier by Comsure https://www.comsuregroup.com/jersey-trust-named-in-non-disclosed-dotas-scheme-during-hmrc-victory-against-tax-avoidance-promoters/ HMRC won £40 million battle against tax avoidance promoters – HM Revenue and Customs has won a legal case over tax avoidance scheme promoter Hyrax Resourcing Ltd, which will help the tax authority collect over £40 million in unpaid taxes. Unfortunately, the scheme relied on an offshore trust in […]

The successor to the infamous Jimmy Carr ‘K2’ scheme has just surfaced following a decision by the First Tier Tribunal which found that a contractor loan scheme should have been notified under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) regulations. With striking similarities in the way it was marketed and operated to K2 the scheme, […]

HMRC has confirmed that it has opened its first investigations into the corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of UK tax evasion, using new powers to tackle corporate fraud contained in the Criminal Finances Act, introduced in the wake of the Panama Papers leaks ‘These investigations have been commenced since November 2018 […]

On 18 February 2019, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an aim to reinforce and develop their cooperation, collaboration, and information and intelligence sharing. Cooperation and information sharing The ICO and FCA have set out what matters they will communicate with each other […]

Boards at some of the UK’s biggest companies still don’t fully understand the potential impact of a cyber attack according to a new report. The Government’s Cyber Governance Health Check looks at the approach the UK’s FTSE 350 companies take for cyber security. The 2018 report published today shows that less than a fifth (16%) […]