Financial Crime Compliance

Regulatory Compliance equips organisations to meet financial services regulations, market listing rules, and governance standards. It provides assurance that directors, shareholders, and senior managers meet “Fit and Proper” requirements while maintaining investor and regulator confidence.

Who is it valuable for?

Nominated Advisers, brokers, venture capital and private equity firms, corporate finance teams, listed companies, and regulated financial institutions.

What We Cover

• Compliance with FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR)
• AIM (London Stock Exchange) director/shareholder compliance checks
• Anti-corruption and anti-money laundering policy alignment
• FCPA compliance programme design and implementation
• Background checks for regulated financial services providers
• Management Due Diligence (MDD) with regulatory references
• Cyber risk assessments and ICT due diligence

When assessing the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, organisations must check whether any high-risk factors apply. Failure to do so can expose them to regulatory breaches, reputational damage, and financial crime.

What we cover

If your Organisation is dealing with individuals or companies established in high-risk jurisdictions, or exposed to other cases of high risk, we help can help identify:

• The areas of risk and apply enhanced due diligence measures to manage and mitigate those risks appropriately. 
• Whether any business relationships are conducted in unusual circumstances
• Customers that operate in geographical areas of higher risk, including areas with no AML/CTF legislation, significant corruption, UN sanctions, or links to designated terrorist organisations
• Whether any individuals are using personal asset-holding vehicles
• Customers who only have nominee shareholders or shares
• If any customers are cash-intensive
• Ownership structures of customers that appear unusual or excessively complex given the nature of their business
• Whether any business relationships are based on anonymity
• If your organisation has received funds from unknown parties

Who is it valuable for?

Banks, insurers, multinational corporates, crypto platforms, regulated entities, and compliance teams operating in high-risk sectors or regions.

Crypto Due Diligence reduces risks linked to anonymity, fraud, and regulatory uncertainty in digital asset markets. It verifies counterparties, platforms, and developers to protect investors and ensure compliance with evolving global standards.

Who it’s valuable for

Crypto platforms, investors, ICOs, VASPs, fintech companies, and regulators.

What We Cover

• Enhanced Due Diligence through discreet references and industry insight interviews
• Background checks on ICO and crypto platform management
• Verification of ownership, directors, and developers
• Transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting
• AML/CTF checks for ICOs, VAs, and VASPs
• Fraud prevention measures and source of funds verification

UBO analysis identifies the true individuals who control or benefit from a business, reducing the risk of hidden ownership, corruption, and money laundering. Accurate, audited, and up-to-date information on beneficial owners is essential in deterring financial crime and uncovering individuals who may attempt to conceal their identity behind complex corporate structures.

A beneficial owner is any natural person who ultimately owns or controls the customer. Under most Anti-Money Laundering (AML) directives, a shareholding of 25% or more (by a natural person or corporate entity) is considered an indicator of ownership. Organisations may, however, apply stricter thresholds depending on their own risk-based criteria.

In rare cases, where all other identification measures are exhausted and no suspicion arises, senior managing officials may be treated as the beneficial owners.

How can we help?

• As part of the risk-based approach, we help organisations reduce the likelihood of financial crime, assisting with customer and enhanced due diligence
• identify the customer and verify the customer’s identity on the basis of documents, data or information obtained from a reliable and independent source
• take reasonable measures to verify the beneficial owner’s identity
• take reasonable measures to understand the ownership and control structure of the customer
• verify the control structure and ultimate beneficial owner
• conduct ongoing monitoring of the business relationship including scrutiny of transactions undertaken throughout the course of that relationship to ensure compliance
• verify that any person purporting to act on behalf of the customer is authorised and identify and verify the identity of that person

When dealing with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), organisations are required to implement risk-based procedures to determine whether a customer, or their ultimate beneficial owner qualifies as a PEP. Approval from senior management to establish or continue business relationships with PEPs is required.

How can we help Your Organisation stay PEP compliant?

We support your Orgnaisation in meeting PEP compliance obligations by:

• checking and verifying sanction lists and registers to identify PEPs, close associates and subjects of interest
• establishing the source of wealth or funds that are involved in business relationships or transactions with PEPs
• conducting enhanced, ongoing monitoring of business relationships with PEPs

Important Notes

• Post-office monitoring: If a PEP is no longer in a prominent public role, organisations must continue enhanced due diligence for at least 12 months, until the PEP is considered to no longer pose a risk.
• Preventative measures: EU Directive measures are preventative, not criminal. Being a PEP does not imply involvement in wrongdoing.
• Fair engagement: While PEPs carry higher risk due to their exposure to corruption, organisations should not automatically refuse a business relationship based solely on PEP status, doing so would go against the ethos of the Directive.
• Extended scope: EU Directive measures also apply to family members and known close associates of PEPs.