Top tips to prevent financial crime during the Coronavirus crisis

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While the accountancy profession comes to terms with the challenges of Covid-19, regulators have recognised the need for flexibility when outlining their ongoing expectations.

It is important that there is no let-up in standards of professionalism, and in levels of financial vigilance, particularly with new criminal threats developing, but it is understood that certain requirements simply cannot be met. Face to face checking of the identification of new clients is just one example of this.

Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published guidance on their expectations relating to financial crime systems and controls during the ongoing restrictions and cover issues such as; reprioritisation of certain activities, ongoing customer due diligence reviews, access to customer information, client identification verification, and regulatory reporting.

Members are advised to ensure that they remain up to date with all current regulatory guidance, and more information can be found on the FCA website here.

Further reading:

Adam Williamson is AAT's Head of Professional Standards.

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