Season 9, Episode 9: OPBAS plus? UK professional body supervisors and AML supervision reform

This episode features a special guest Michelle Giddings, head of anti-money laundering at the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Giddings joins Rachel Wolcott, senior editor at Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence in London.TRRI usually covers anti-money laundering (AML) strictly from a financial services viewpoint. However, with the focus on accountants' and law firms' role in preventing financial crime like money laundering and sanctions evasion since the advent of the Ukraine war and now the war in Gaza, it is instructive to look at how these professionals are supervised in the UK.Five years ago, the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (OPBAS) was established to supervise the 25 professional body supervisors in the legal and accountancy sector of which the ICAEW is one. OPBAS is part of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).The OPBAS approach has been criticised from lawmakers as not being robust enough to manage AML risks arising from accounting and law firms. The most recent OPBAS report in April, however found improvements but said many professional body supervisors were falling short of expectations.The UK government is considering changing its approach to supervising professional services firms like accountants and lawyers for anti-money laundering purposes. One of the options on the table is eliminating OPBAS and moving to a single regulator or a consolidated professional body supervisor—which could see one regulator supervising 100,000 firms.Giddings talks Compliance Clarified through the ICAEW's response to the government's consultation on professional body supervisory reform, criticism of professional body supervisors' performance, ICAEW thematic review of money laundering reporting officers (MLRO) as well as its annual review of AML supervision. LINKS:ICAEW Consultation response: Supervisory Reform consultation response (icaew.com) Role of the Money Laundering Reporting officer: www.icaew.com/regulation/aml-supervision/aml-thematic-reviews/the-role-of-the-money-laundering-reporting-officer2022/23 anti-money laundering supervision report: www.icaew.com/regulation/aml-supervision/anti-money-laundering-supervision-reportUK Government consultation: Reforming anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-supervision AML: UK professional body supervisors focused on boosting SARs quality, information sharing http://go-ri.tr.com/nRE5uKContact [email protected] more information about Regulatory Intelligence, click here: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/regulatory-intelligenceCompliance Clarified is a podcast from Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence.Listen to wide-ranging, insightful discussions on all things compliance for financial services firms. We delve into the hot topics of the day, the challenges faced and offer up practical ideas for emerging good practice. We de-mystify regulation and explore the art, as well as the science, of the ever-expanding role of the compliance officer. Enforcements, digital transformation, regulatory change, governance, culture, conduct risk – anything and everything impacting the compliance function is up for discussion. Compliance Clarified is a podcast from Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence.Listen to wide-ranging, insightful discussions on all things compliance for financial services firms. We delve into the hot topics of the day, the challenges faced and offer up practical ideas for emerging good practice. We de-mystify regulation and explore the art, as well as the science, of the ever-expanding role of the compliance officer.  Enforcements, digital transformation, regulatory change, governance, culture, conduct risk – anything and everything impacting the compliance function is up for discussion.