Money Laundering

Policy Statement

Redbridge Accountant Ltd T/A RBA Chartered Accountants and Tax Advisors (the "Firm") is committed to preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The Firm has a zero-tolerance policy towards any involvement in money laundering or terrorist financing.

The Firm's Obligations

The Firm is required to comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (the "MLRs") and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (the "POCA"). The MLRs require the Firm to take reasonable steps to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. These steps include:

Identifying and verifying the identity of its clients;
Monitoring client transactions for suspicious activity;
Reporting suspicious activity to the National Crime Agency (NCA);
Keeping records of its AML/CTF procedures and activities.

Risk assessment and management

The main risks facing the firm are:

Involvement of clients in:
Tax evasion such as understatement of income, overstatement of expenses or claiming reliefs to which they are not entitled.
Offences under the Fraud Act 2006, such as using false accounts to support an application for a loan.
Offences under the Theft Act, such as clients deliberately refraining from notifying customers of overpayments.
Offences under the Bribery Act 2010, such as making facilitation payments when working overseas.
Failure to report suspicion or knowledge of such involvement to the firm’s MLRO by a principal, employee or sub-contractor of the firm.
Deliberate facilitation of tax evasion by a client by a principal, employee or sub-contractor of the firm.

Whilst the likelihood of encountering instances of money laundering other than tax evasion or even terrorist financing may be minimal, principals, staff and sub-contractors must remain alert to such eventuality.

Principals, staff and sub-contractors must also be alert for complex or unusually large transactions and unusual patterns of transactions which have no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose.

Similarly, principals, staff and sub-contractors must identify situations where the client is using products and transactions which might favour anonymity (such as Panamanian companies), recognise the increased risk of money laundering or terrorist financing that these products and transactions produce, and take additional measures, where appropriate.

All know our client forms and customer due diligence forms should record the client’s risk profile.

Risk assessments will be undertaken and documented prior to any new business practices or technology updates being implemented.

Senior management approval should be obtained before establishing or continuing a business relationship with any high-risk clients.

Firm level risk assessment

In conjunction with the senior management of the firm the MLRO should prepare and keep up to date a risk assessment for the firm that assesses the risks faced by the firm as identified above relevant to its client base. This assessment should also consider risks identified by the firm’s regulator for AML purposes and the National Risk Assessment.

Customer due diligence measures

The standard approach to verifying the identity of individuals will be (in order of preference):

Online checks carried out through [enter name of service];
Copies of passports or photo driving licences;
Other documents as appropriate

When carrying out enhanced due diligence on individuals, the standard approach should be enhanced with at least one additional piece of evidence of identity.

Before the first regulated activity for the client is undertaken staff should check that:

A risk assessment taking account of risks identified in the firm’s own risk assessment has been completed and updated where necessary.
Existing evidence of identification for the client is up to date. If not, it should be updated.
Existing list of principals (directors, partners, trustees, etc.) is up to date. If not, it should be updated.
Depending on the risk assessment in ‘1’, the file contains adequate information to satisfy us on the identity of the principals.
Where the client has beneficial owners, the details of all beneficial owners are fully recorded and up to date.
Depending on the risk assessment in ‘1’, the file contains adequate information to satisfy us that we know who any beneficial owners are.
Know your client forms exist and are up to date.
The client’s risk assessment in ‘1’ remains up to date and appropriate.

As part of the firm’s customer due diligence procedures, consideration must be given to establishing whether the client is a politically exposed person, or a family member or close associate of a politically exposed person or is included on a sanctions list. This is achieved by checking the client on [specify service used such as an electronic check or the ICAEW screening service.]

Because of the increased risk involved the firm will not seek to rely on customer due diligence evidence obtained by others. Instead, where we are acting for a mutual client who has already provided adequate customer due diligence to a financial or credit institution, firm of accountants or a lawyer, we should seek certified copies of that evidence in an attempt to avoid requiring the client to produce identification evidence again.

Similarly, we will not allow other firms to rely on our customer due diligence Evidence. However, if we are acting for a mutual client, we will normally provide the other firm with certified copies should they ask for them.

Ongoing monitoring

We must maintain appropriate ongoing monitoring of all client transactions to prevent activities related to money laundering and terrorist financing. This applies even where the client qualifies for simplified customer due diligence measures.

In future years, steps 1 to 8 in the customer due diligence section should be reviewed to ensure the information held is still appropriate.

Reporting of suspicious transactions

All principals and staff must report knowledge or suspicion of money laundering (including bribery and tax evasion), whether it relates to clients or anyone else. Before deciding that a potentially suspect activity is not suspicious, you should consider whether the information you have might provide “reasonable grounds for knowledge or suspicion”.

Avoiding tipping off

In the event of a report being made to the MLRO or to NCA, or to any other person authorised to receive disclosures including the police and HM Revenue & Customs, under no circumstances must the client be informed. This means that the client must not be made aware that a report has been made. It also means that the client should not be made aware if an investigation into allegations that a money laundering offence has been committed is being contemplated or carried out.

If it appears to be necessary to disclose the existence of a report or an actual or contemplated investigation to any other person (i.e. not the client) then the MLRO must be consulted before any disclosure is made.

A qualified accountant or tax adviser can try to dissuade a client from committing a criminal offence without fear that the discussion could be treated as tipping off. However, this should not refer to any reports that have been or would be made.

Record keeping

We will keep full records of:

Customer due diligence checks
Details of beneficial ownership
Know your client forms
Evidence of staff training
Internal reports to the MLRO
External reports to NCA
The firm’s risk assessment
The firm’s compliance checks
Transaction files
All actions taken to identify the beneficial owners of clients

All such records shall be retained for at least six years. The latest records of customer due diligence checks, details of beneficial ownership and know your client forms for clients with whom we had a business relationship will be kept for at least six years from the end of the relationship.

The Firm's Procedures

The Firm has in place a number of procedures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. These procedures include:

A customer due diligence (CDD) policy and procedure;A suspicious activity reporting (SAR) policy and procedure; and A record-keeping policy and procedure.

The Firm's CDD policy and procedure requires the Firm to obtain and verify the identity of its clients before entering into a business relationship with them. The Firm's SAR policy and procedure requires the Firm to report any suspicious activity to the NCA. The Firm's record-keeping policy and procedure requires the Firm to keep records of its AML/CTF procedures and activities for at least six years.

The Firm's Training

The Firm's staff are required to receive training on the Firm's AML/CTF procedures. The Firm's training program covers the following topics:

The MLRs;
The POCA;
The Firm's AML/CTF procedures; and
How to identify and report suspicious activity.

The Firm's Compliance

The Firm is committed to complying with the MLRs and the POCA. The Firm has a number of procedures in place to ensure that it complies with these requirements. These procedures include:

A compliance officer;
An AML/CTF committee; and
An AML/CTF training program.

The Firm's compliance officer is responsible for ensuring that the Firm complies with the MLRs and the POCA. The Firm's AML/CTF committee is responsible for developing and reviewing the Firm's AML/CTF procedures. The Firm's AML/CTF training program ensures that the Firm's staff are aware of their AML/CTF obligations.

The Firm's Commitment

Redbridge Accountant Ltd T/A RBA Chartered Accountants and Tax Advisors is committed to preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The Firm has a zero-tolerance policy towards any involvement in money laundering or terrorist financing. The Firm has in place a number of procedures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, and the Firm is committed to complying with the MLRs and the POCA.