Breaches of AML reporting requirements by UK bankers: Are effective enforcement choices being made by financial regulators?

The need to ensure a high level of compliance with reporting requirements is key to the achievement of the objectives of AML legislation. The volume of funds that is estimated to be laundered through the UK financial system on an annual basis has not reduced since the large-scale reforms introduced with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA). Neither is the amount of money being recovered reassuring. This chapter undertakes a theoretical analysis and evaluation of enforcement decisions taken with respect to breaches by bankers of their reporting obligations and finds that prosecution of individuals appears never to have been resorted to with respect to a banker since the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was established and since the coming into force of PoCA. In order to evaluate these enforcement decisions, the chapter examines where the powers and duties lie for investigating and prosecuting failure to report and what might be the reasons for the rarity of prosecutions of individuals operating in the financial sector. It argues that in order to improve compliance, steps may need be taken to change corporate culture within banks and that legal reforms clarifying where the relevant powers to investigate and prosecute lie may be necessary.