Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 35
35
Paragraph: 153
Whilst the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) has made good progress, it...
Conclusion
Whilst the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) has made good progress, it is disappointing that nearly four years after it was set up, it is still encountering poor performance from a large proportion of the professional bodies that it supervises. There needs to be a plan to ramp up compliance in this sector, by resourcing OPBAS to do more checks and to allow it to take punitive action against professional body supervisors.
Paragraph Reference:
153
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
We welcome the report’s recognition of the progress OPBAS has achieved. Over the last four years, under the supervision of OPBAS, the Professional Body Supervisors (PBS) have made significant improvements in their compliance with their obligations under the MLRs. OPBAS is now focusing on the effectiveness of the PBS AML supervision. As OPBAS states in its third report, while some PBSs are demonstrating good practice, OPBAS found during its 2020/21 assessments, differing levels of achievement and some significant weaknesses in the effectiveness of supervisory frameworks that PBSs have in place – which is informing our future work plan in this area so that effectiveness is improved. OPBAS expects PBSs to continue investing in, and strengthening their AML supervision, to have the greatest impact on the prevention of financial crime and that the PBS will continue to work closely with other authorities to make the UK an inhospitable place for criminals. OPBAS will continue to evolve its approach to supervision, using a wider range of methods to enrich its understanding of risks and drive more effective supervision by PBSs. It will continue to make robust interventions where PBSs do not make required progress. The FCA is engaging with HM Treasury as part of its review of the AML/CTF supervisory regime.