What are the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (MLR2019)?

The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (MLR 2019), came into force on 10 January 2020. These regulations implement the EU Fifth Money Laundering Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/843, '5MLD')) in the UK, and follow a high-level consultation in summer 2019. There was no opportunity to consult on the regulations which were laid before Parliament on 20 December 2019.<br/><br/>

The Regulations make amendments to the existing Money Laundering,Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017). These include an expansion of the scope of the regulated sector, and changes to aspects of regulated firms’ customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence obligations, in particular, an important new requirement to make reports to Companies House in relation to discrepancies between information collected during customer due diligence and information on the Persons with Significant Control register.