Michael Furness QC and Emily McKechnie examine how the new money laundering and trusts regime will affect those offering advice and services to trustees
Many professional and business activities will be affected by the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2157) (the regulations), which come into force on 15 December 2007. One area which has caused particular difficulty in drafting the regulations is that of advice and other professional services provided to trusts and trustees.
The regulations implement the Money Laundering Directive 2005/60/EC. The “relevant persons” they apply to include credit and financial institutions, auditors, accountants, tax advisers and insolvency practitioners, independent legal professionals, trust or company service providers, estate agents and high value dealers. Most of these might do business with trustees.
BENEFICIAL OWNER
The regulations introduce customer due diligence (CDD) procedures, obliging the relevant person to identify his customer and the “beneficial owner”, where the customer is different. The customer must be not only identified, but his identity verified by documents, data or information from a reliable and independent source. The beneficial owner must also be identified, but the
