The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020
| Year | 2020 |
2020 No. 991
Exiting The European Union
Financial Services
The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020
Made 14th September 2020
Laid before Parliament 15th September 2020
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1
The Treasury are designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of that Act, and by section 8(1) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 20183, make the following Regulations.
The requirements of paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 7 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (relating to the appropriate Parliamentary procedure for these Regulations) have been satisfied.
PART 1
Introduction
Citation and commencement
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.
(2) Parts 1 to 3 come into force 21 days after the day on which they are laid, except as specified in paragraphs (3) and (4).
(3) Regulation 7(2)(a) (substitution of paragraph (3) of regulation 45: register of beneficial ownership information) comes into force on 6th April 2021.
(4) Regulation 5 (substitution of regulation 30A: reporting discrepancies: trusts) and regulation 7(4) (insertion of new regulation 45ZB: access to information on the register) come into force on 10th March 2022.
(5) Part 4 comes into force on IP completion day.
PART 2
Implementation of EU law
Amendment of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017
2. The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 20174are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 12.
Customer due diligence measures
3. In regulation 28 (customer due diligence measures)5—
(a) in paragraph (5), after “Paragraphs (3)(b)” insert “, (3A)”;
(b) in paragraph (19)(b), for the words “an appropriate level of assurance” to the end, substitute “assurance that the person claiming a particular identity is in fact the person with that identity, to a degree that is necessary for effectively managing and mitigating any risks of money laundering and terrorist financing”.
Reporting discrepancies: general
4.—(1) In regulation 30A(2)(b) (requirement to report discrepancies in registers)6, after “carrying out its duties under these Regulations” insert “when establishing a business relationship with the customer”.
(2) In regulation 37(2)(a) (simplified due diligence)—
(a)
(a) for “regulation 28” substitute “regulations 28 and 30A”;
(b)
(b) for “that regulation” substitute “regulation 28”.
(3) In regulation 39 (reliance)—
(a)
(a) in paragraph (1), after “regulation 28(2) to (6) and (10)” insert “, or to carry out any of the measures required by regulation 30A,”;
(b)
(b) in paragraph (2)—
(i) after “apply customer due diligence measures” insert “or carry out any of the measures required by regulation 30A”;
(ii) in sub-paragraph (a), after “regulation 28(2) to (6) and (10)” insert “and regulation 30A”;
(c)
(c) in paragraph (7), after “applying customer due diligence measures” insert “, or carrying out any of the measures required by regulation 30A,”.
(4) In regulation 40(2)(a) (record keeping), after “regulations 28, 29 and 33 to 37” insert “and the requirements of regulation 30A”.
Reporting discrepancies: trusts
5. For regulation 30A (requirement to report discrepancies in registers) substitute—
“Requirement to report discrepancies in registers
30A. (1) Before establishing a business relationship with—
(a)
(a) a company which is subject to the requirements of Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006 (information about people with significant control)7;
(b)
(b) an unregistered company which is subject to the requirements of the Unregistered Companies Regulations 20098;
(c)
(c) a limited liability partnership which is subject to the requirements of the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 20099;
(d)
(d) an eligible Scottish partnership which is subject to the requirements of the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 201710, or
(e)
(e) a trust which is subject to registration under Part 5 of these Regulations,
a relevant person must collect proof of registration or an excerpt of the register from the company, the unregistered company, the limited liability partnership or the trust (as the case may be) or from the registrar (in the case of an eligible Scottish partnership).
(2) The relevant person must report to the person mentioned in paragraph (3) any discrepancy the relevant person finds between information relating to the beneficial ownership of the customer—
(a)
(a) which the relevant person collects under paragraph (1), and
(b)
(b) which otherwise becomes available to the relevant person in the course of carrying out its duties under these Regulations when establishing a business relationship with the customer.
(3) The discrepancy must be reported—
(a)
(a) if it relates to a company, an unregistered company, a limited liability partnership or an eligible Scottish partnership, to the registrar; or
(b)
(b) if it relates to a trust, to the Commissioners.
(4) The relevant person is not required under paragraph (2) to report information which that person would be entitled to refuse to provide on grounds of legal professional privilege in the High Court (or in Scotland, on the ground of confidentiality of communications in the Court of Session).
(5) The person to whom the discrepancy is reported must take such action as that person considers appropriate to investigate and, if necessary, resolve the discrepancy in a timely manner.
(6) A discrepancy which is reported to the registrar under paragraph (3) is material excluded from public inspection for the purposes of section 1087 of the Companies Act 2006 (material not available for public inspection), including for the purposes of that section as applied—
(a)
(a) to unregistered companies by paragraph 20 of Schedule 1 to the Unregistered Companies Regulations 2009;
(b)
(b) to limited liability partnerships by regulation 66 of the Limited Liability Partnerships (Application of Companies Act 2006) Regulations 2009; and
(c)
(c) to eligible Scottish partnerships by regulation 61 of the Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017.
(7) A reference to the registrar in this regulation is to the registrar of companies within the meaning of section 1060(3) of the Companies Act 2006.”.
Enhanced due diligence
6.—(1) In regulation 33 (obligation to apply enhanced customer due diligence)11, for paragraph (4A) substitute—
“4A. Where a relevant person provides a life insurance policy, the relevant person must consider the nature and identity of the beneficiary of the policy when assessing whether there is a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, and the extent of the measures which should be taken to manage and mitigate that risk.
4B. Where the beneficiary of a life insurance policy provided by a relevant person—
(a) is a legal person or a legal arrangement, and
(b) presents a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing,
the relevant person must take reasonable measures to identify and verify the identity of the beneficial owner of that beneficiary before any payment is made under the policy.”.
(2) In regulation 34(1) (enhanced due diligence: credit institutions, financial institutions and correspondent relationships), after “correspondent relationship” insert “involving the execution of payments”.
Beneficial ownership information
7.—(1) In regulation 42 (application of Part 5)—
(a)
(a) in paragraph (2)—
(i) at the end of sub-paragraph (b)(i), omit “or”;
(ii) after “one or more of the taxes referred to in regulation 45(14);”, insert—
“or
any other non-UK trust which is an express trust, is not a trust listed in Schedule 3A (excluded trusts) and whose trustees (in their capacity as such)—
acquire an interest in land in the United Kingdom; or
enter into a business relationship with a relevant person, where at least one of those trustees is resident in the United Kingdom and the trust is not an EEA registered trust;”;
(b)
(b) after paragraph (3), insert—
“4. For the purposes of this Part, an “EEA registered trust” is a trust whose beneficial ownership information is required, by Article 31.3a of the fourth money laundering directive, to be held in a central register set up by an EEA state other than the United Kingdom.
5. For the purposes of this Part, the trustees acquire an interest in land in the United Kingdom where at least one of the trustees becomes registered—
(a) in the register of title kept under the Land Registration Act 200212as the proprietor of—
a freehold estate in land; or
a leasehold estate in land granted for a term of more than 7 years from the date of the grant;
(b) in the Land Register of Scotland as the proprietor or as the tenant under a lease (“lease” and “proprietor” having the meanings given by section 113(1) of the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 201213); or
(c) in the register kept under the Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 197014as the owner of—
a freehold estate in land; or
a leasehold estate in land granted for a term of more than 21 years from the date of the grant.
6. For the purposes of this Part—
(a) the trustees have a controlling interest in a third country entity if they meet any of the...
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