UKGC Issues 5th Edition of AML & CFT Guidance For Casinos
The latest update to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC)’s guidance for casinos on anti money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism has now been published. The guidelines implement requirements from the EU 5th Money Laundering Directive which came into force 10 January 2020.
Operators are expected to act promptly in accordance with the new guidelines, however the UKGC “recognises that it takes time to implement changes and we will take that into account.”
The UKGC has summarised the key changes as follows:
- Taking appropriate measures in preparation for, and during, the adoption of new products or business practices and to assess and mitigate any money laundering risks arising from such adoption, in addition to the existing and similar requirement for new technology (regulation 19)
- Having specific policies, procedures and controls for the measures described above (regulation 19)
- Taking appropriate measures to ensure that any agents that operators use for the purposes of their business are given appropriate training in anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (regulation 24)
- Further direction in relation to what information may be regarded as ‘obtained from a reliable source which is independent of the person whose identity is being verified’ (regulation 28)
- Further requirements for enhanced customer due diligence measures for high-risk third countries, complex or unusually large transactions, and where there are unusual patterns of transactions, or the transactions have no apparent economic or legal purpose, as well as customers who are beneficiaries of life insurance policies or the customer is a third country national who has received citizenship in an EEA state in exchange for the transfer of capital, purchase of property, government bonds or investment in corporate entities in the EEA state (regulation 33)
Further information regarding the announcement: Read on gamblingcommission.gov.uk
Read the full guidelines: PDF via gamblingcommission.gov.uk
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