The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) recently secured its first forfeiture of sanctioned funds. This was a landmark achievement for the NCA’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell, which has only existed since 2022 and aims to...more
Welcome to the second instalment of 2024 of the Regulatory & Risk Advisory Review. In this edition we cover several Cayman Islands regulatory updates including updates to the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act, the...more
The UK Court of Appeal recently held that the National Crime Agency’s decision not to investigate whether cotton goods manufactured in China and imported to the UK were the product of forced labour was unlawful — a decision...more
On 20 January 2023, the High Court in London issued a historic judgment in relation to the World Uyghur Congress’ (WUC) challenge to the UK government’s failure to investigate the importation of cotton produced in China’s...more
Recent publications come in light of UK’s “greater autonomy” in setting AML and CTF regulations following Brexit. Background to the review - On 22 July 2021, HM Treasury published both a Call for Evidence on a review...more
The Law Commission has published its much anticipated report on reform of the UK's anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regime, and in particular of the system of suspicious activity reports ("SARs"). The proposed...more
Lonsdale v National Westminster Bank [2018] EWHC 1843 (QB) (18 July 2018) - A bank was ordered to disclose, to a customer, suspicious activity reports (SARs) that the bank had sent to the National Crime Agency (NCA) at the...more
Canada legalised recreational cannabis in October 2018 and it may be that other countries follow suit. UK and US investors, and those who facilitate investments in legal recreational cannabis businesses overseas, need to be...more
The myriad—and conflicting—state, federal and international laws governing the burgeoning marijuana industry have created a complicated legal landscape for financial institutions. In the United States, most states have...more
On 7 March 2016, the new Police and Crime Bill (the “Bill”) received its second reading in Parliament. The stated aims of the Bill are to bring consistency to all penalties across the UK financial sanctions regimes, increase...more