It’s difficult for me not to shudder a little on hearing a mention of the Government’s dreaded draft money laundering regulations. They could not only impose significant extra costs on solicitors for compliance but also reduce the competitiveness of UK firms by gold-plating the implementation of the EU directive. They could put even conscientious solicitors at risk of conviction and imprisonment.
One of the many issues we are trying to get the Government to look at is around the requirement for solicitors to conduct enhanced customer due diligence (CDD) if your customer is a politically exposed person (PEP).
