COVID-19: Preventing Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing in Legal Practices

14 April, 2020

The Legal Sector Affinity Group (LSAG) has issued advice for legal practices on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CLC Practices should refer to the advice for guidance on the risks arising, identification and verification (including digital identification services) and other issues including training requirements and policies, controls, and procedures.

The LSAG advisory note reminds those in scope of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (as amended) that they must still comply with the statutory requirements at all times, including performing an appropriate level of client due diligence (CDD).

The advice has been produced through joint working across the legal sector AML supervisors which we hope will be of assistance in the current environment.

The advice note can also be found in the CLC’s AML toolkit along with other guidance and resources to support AML compliance.