Last updated: 25 Oct 2023 11:00 Posted in: AIA
AIA has published its professional body supervisor report, which explains work carried out to ensure accountants prevent criminals from using their services to launder money.
AIA supervises its practising members for the purposes of the United Kingdom Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (amended 2019), where AIA is listed in schedule 1 as an approved supervisory body. In the Republic of Ireland AIA is a designated body under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act. This work is overseen by HM Treasury, the Office for Professional Body AML Supervision (OPBAS) and the Republic of Ireland Departments of Finance and Justice.
AIA's strategy is to provide robust anti-money laundering supervision through a risk-based approach. A risk-based approach requires assessment of risks and targeting resources to the areas or products that are most likely to be used to launder money. AIA also offers support to members through education, guidance, training, compliance checklists and templates.
The report covers:
George Josephakis, Chair, AIA Regulatory Oversight Committee, said: “AIA continues to take its role as an anti-money laundering PBS for accountants extremely seriously. We continue to prioritise our role as an AML supervisor and on behalf of the AIA Council and Regulatory Oversight Committee I would like to thank AIA's supervised population for their continued engagement with our monitoring and supervision work.”
David Potts, AIA Director of Operations & MLRO, said: “AIA will continue to work with our members to prevent criminals taking advantage of the professional services offered by accountants. The effectiveness of the UK’s AML supervision in the accountancy sector has continually improved since OPBAS was established and it is vital we protect the progress made by professional body supervisors in the fight against economic crime as we look towards HM Treasury reporting on its recent consultation on reform of the UK’s AML supervision framework.”
READ THE FULL REPORT