Anti money laundering

Taking part in money laundering activities, even unwittingly, is a crime. As a CIMA member you have a responsibility to report suspicious activity.

CIMA members - both in practice and in business- are able to identify activities associated with money laundering such as the placing of funds from unknown or unspecified sources and unusual client activity.

The scope of money laundering

The International Monetary Fund has estimated that two to five per cent of the worldwide global economy involved laundered money. Other bodies generally regard the annual amounts globally in billions of US Dollars making laundered money bigger than some major economies.

International agencies and experts coined the joint acronym AML/CTF, which stands for anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing.  The two are often talked about together, especially since 9/11, although where “dirty money” is always the proceeds of crime, terrorist financing may originate from legitimate sources.

Your responsibilities

There is international and national legislation relating to AML/CTF and as a CIMA member, you need to be aware of your responsibilities under this legislation.

Members in practice:

• are likely to be responsible for undertaking customer due diligence
• are automatically supervised by CIMA which, under UK AML legislation, is a Treasury-appointed supervisory authority
• are required to complete the anti-money laundering questionnaire as a part of applying for or renewing their members in practice status.

Members in business:

• share the responsibility for vigilance with their employer
• should have a nominated officer in their business to report concerns to and who is authorised to make disclosures to the appropriate authorities (known in the UK as a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO), there will be an equivalent under the national legislation of your country).

For more information on anti-money laundering see the other pages in the menu on the right.