Persons working in the regulated sector which includes ICB members in practice, are required under Part 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) to submit a SAR in respect of information that comes to them in the course of their business if they know, or suspect or have reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that a person is engaged in, or attempting, money laundering or terrorist financing activity.

These SARs are managed by the UK Financial Intelligence Unit, and are made available to law enforcement agencies including HMRC to be used in the prevention and detection of crime, money laundering and terrorist financing. The attached publication from the UKFIU highlights the use that SARs submitted by regulated firms play in this process and how this impacts on the safety and security of us all.

I hope that members will read the document and consider whether they have in the past have come across circumstances where they should have submitted a SAR or use the content as an aide-memoire for their future AML compliance.

You can read the document here.