Amendments to the Financial Crime Returns Rules

Following a consultation we ran earlier this year, the Commission has today published amendments to the Financial Crime Returns Rules (“the FC Returns Rules”) which makes mandatory the filing of periodic returns for accountants, lawyers and estate agents (prescribed businesses), ending the disparity with other sectors where such filings are mandatory.

The amendments also introduce the requirement for non-bank money services businesses to submit the quarterly Financial Flows Return.

The consultation responses received were positive and recognised that these amendments largely formalise the requirement to file returns, which was already happening in practice.

The legislation can be found on the Commission’s legislation and guidance page or through this link.