#London is still a major centre for #moneylaundering and #FCA and #OPBAS are toothless, they go after barbers, accountants and hairdressers and ignore the big banks..!
February 1, 2025 at 8:41 AM
#London is still a major centre for #moneylaundering and #FCA and #OPBAS are toothless, they go after barbers, accountants and hairdressers and ignore the big banks..!
Read more in our blog 👇
Failing money laundering supervision shows it’s high time for major reform - Spotlight on Corruption
The latest report from the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) comes at a pivotal time as the government progresses plans
www.spotlightcorruption.org
March 5, 2026 at 9:22 AM
Read more in our blog 👇
Essential questions here from UK Anti-Corruption Champion Baroness Hodge. As Hodge notes, the reform to make the FCA the money laundering supervisor for lawyers and accountants will only work if it has the right powers & resources, and if OPBAS* is empowered to oversee a smooth transition.
June 10, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Essential questions here from UK Anti-Corruption Champion Baroness Hodge. As Hodge notes, the reform to make the FCA the money laundering supervisor for lawyers and accountants will only work if it has the right powers & resources, and if OPBAS* is empowered to oversee a smooth transition.
BREAKING: Not one of the 22 #AML supervisors that police lawyers and accountants for #moneylaundering is fully effective, #OPBAS finds in its latest report. Fines are down, while #AML supervisors are failing to make full use of their enforcement powers & tools:
OPBAS finds improvements needed amongst anti-money laundering supervisors
Tackling financial crime is a key priority for the FCA.
www.fca.org.uk
September 23, 2024 at 9:43 AM
BREAKING: Not one of the 22 #AML supervisors that police lawyers and accountants for #moneylaundering is fully effective, #OPBAS finds in its latest report. Fines are down, while #AML supervisors are failing to make full use of their enforcement powers & tools:
🎯 The UK government has committed to revamping AML supervision of professional services & consulting on expanding the regulated sector for money laundering. Cases like this show these reforms cannot come soon enough. A good start would be including AML supervisory reform in the next King's Speech.
Failing money laundering supervision shows it’s high time for major reform - Spotlight on Corruption
The latest report from the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) comes at a pivotal time as the government progresses plans
www.spotlightcorruption.org
March 30, 2026 at 3:38 PM
🎯 The UK government has committed to revamping AML supervision of professional services & consulting on expanding the regulated sector for money laundering. Cases like this show these reforms cannot come soon enough. A good start would be including AML supervisory reform in the next King's Speech.
The UK can't afford to get anti-money laundering supervision reform wrong.
The government must give OPBAS strong oversight powers, tackle difficult questions around legal professional privilege, and properly resource the FCA's new role - especially with a FATF review looming.
Read the full blog...
The government must give OPBAS strong oversight powers, tackle difficult questions around legal professional privilege, and properly resource the FCA's new role - especially with a FATF review looming.
Read the full blog...
Government sets out its plan for making the FCA the super-regulator for money laundering - Spotlight on Corruption
As the government lays out its plans for a major expansion of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) anti-money laundering (AML) supervision responsibilities, we look at how these proposals can be s...
www.spotlightcorruption.org
June 23, 2026 at 1:58 PM
The UK can't afford to get anti-money laundering supervision reform wrong.
The government must give OPBAS strong oversight powers, tackle difficult questions around legal professional privilege, and properly resource the FCA's new role - especially with a FATF review looming.
Read the full blog...
The government must give OPBAS strong oversight powers, tackle difficult questions around legal professional privilege, and properly resource the FCA's new role - especially with a FATF review looming.
Read the full blog...
🚨 Cases like the one heard today bring home how important it is to ensure #AML supervision of law firms is effective during the transition to #FCA supervision, and holds key lessons for what is needed to ensure these major reforms result in better accountability of big firms for #AML compliance.
Failing money laundering supervision shows it’s high time for major reform - Spotlight on Corruption
The latest report from the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) comes at a pivotal time as the government progresses plans
www.spotlightcorruption.org
March 25, 2026 at 2:03 PM
And it comes in a week when the AML “supervisor of supervisors” #OPBAS has warned that none of the 22 professional regulators for lawyers and accountants (including the SRA) is fully effective in their job, while some are actually getting worse:
Damning report proves that urgent AML supervisory reform is critical - Spotlight on Corruption
The UK is not effectively supervising the legal and accountancy professions for money laundering risks, according to the latest assessment of the 22 supervisory authorities responsible for overseeing ...
www.spotlightcorruption.org
September 27, 2024 at 12:53 PM
And it comes in a week when the AML “supervisor of supervisors” #OPBAS has warned that none of the 22 professional regulators for lawyers and accountants (including the SRA) is fully effective in their job, while some are actually getting worse:
There are also strong vested interests at play. You can already see lawyers and accountants claiming this will lead to more red tape (it won't). In fact its more efficient, taking out 20+ ineffective & self-interested regulators in one swoop. If you want to see how good they were read OPBAS reports.
October 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
There are also strong vested interests at play. You can already see lawyers and accountants claiming this will lead to more red tape (it won't). In fact its more efficient, taking out 20+ ineffective & self-interested regulators in one swoop. If you want to see how good they were read OPBAS reports.
Treasury Committee publishes report on anti-money laundering supervision and the implementation of sanctions:
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…
Economic Crime - Anti-money laundering supervision and sanctions implementations - Treasury - House of Commons
Office of Professional Body Anti-money laundering Supervisors (OPBAS)
publications.parliament.uk
February 27, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Treasury Committee publishes report on anti-money laundering supervision and the implementation of sanctions:
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…
* OPBAS = the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors
June 10, 2026 at 9:17 AM
* OPBAS = the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors
🗣️ This risks weakening the deterrent effect of AML rules and widening the enforcement gap for the AML regime within the legal sector. If the SRA must think twice about whether a breach of the AML rules warrants a regulatory sanction, enforcement – which has only just begun to improve – may falter.
Failing money laundering supervision shows it’s high time for major reform - Spotlight on Corruption
The latest report from the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) comes at a pivotal time as the government progresses plans
www.spotlightcorruption.org
April 27, 2026 at 3:29 PM
🗣️ This risks weakening the deterrent effect of AML rules and widening the enforcement gap for the AML regime within the legal sector. If the SRA must think twice about whether a breach of the AML rules warrants a regulatory sanction, enforcement – which has only just begun to improve – may falter.
😱 A new report from the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) says that “continued failures … call into question the consistency and effectiveness of AML supervision” by professional bodies that supervise lawyers and accountants for anti-money laundering (AML).
March 5, 2026 at 9:22 AM
😱 A new report from the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) says that “continued failures … call into question the consistency and effectiveness of AML supervision” by professional bodies that supervise lawyers and accountants for anti-money laundering (AML).
OPBAS has a crucial role to play to hold supervisors to account if they start to slack off in their oversight and leave gaps in the UK’s #AML defences. We’ll be keeping a close eye on supervisors’ performance through our AML supervision tracker:
Anti-money laundering supervision tracker - Spotlight on Corruption
For the first time, this tracker consolidates statistics on how UK anti-money laundering supervisors are conducting their work in one place and provides a
www.spotlightcorruption.org
December 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
OPBAS has a crucial role to play to hold supervisors to account if they start to slack off in their oversight and leave gaps in the UK’s #AML defences. We’ll be keeping a close eye on supervisors’ performance through our AML supervision tracker:
OPBAS – the body within the Financial Conduct Authority which oversees whether professional bodies are doing their job on tackling money laundering – has publicly censured the ICB UK (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) after it suspended inspections of its members for 9 months in 2022/23.
December 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
OPBAS – the body within the Financial Conduct Authority which oversees whether professional bodies are doing their job on tackling money laundering – has publicly censured the ICB UK (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) after it suspended inspections of its members for 9 months in 2022/23.
1️⃣ Relieve failing professional body supervisors of their duties as an urgent priority within a carefully managed transition to consolidated AML supervision – including the two that OPBAS recently found were clearly ineffective.
March 6, 2025 at 12:54 PM
1️⃣ Relieve failing professional body supervisors of their duties as an urgent priority within a carefully managed transition to consolidated AML supervision – including the two that OPBAS recently found were clearly ineffective.
The case for reform is now beyond doubt with last week’s report from the FCA’s OPBAS revealing that none of the 22 professional body AML supervisors is fully effective and progress has stalled (and in some cases gone into reverse).
September 30, 2024 at 1:02 PM
The case for reform is now beyond doubt with last week’s report from the FCA’s OPBAS revealing that none of the 22 professional body AML supervisors is fully effective and progress has stalled (and in some cases gone into reverse).
Enforcement remains a weak point across the board, with the number & value of fines declining in spite of increased rates of non-compliance. Meanwhile OPBAS found that some supervisors opted for informal action when tougher sanctions were needed.
September 23, 2024 at 1:23 PM
Enforcement remains a weak point across the board, with the number & value of fines declining in spite of increased rates of non-compliance. Meanwhile OPBAS found that some supervisors opted for informal action when tougher sanctions were needed.
OPBAS had to intervene to address serious concerns at 2 professional bodies, but these failing supervisors have not been named and shamed for their shoddy performance.
September 23, 2024 at 1:22 PM
OPBAS had to intervene to address serious concerns at 2 professional bodies, but these failing supervisors have not been named and shamed for their shoddy performance.
After a deep dive into 9 of the 22 professional bodies, #OPBAS found that the majority have actually declined or remained static in their overall effectiveness, while only 3 showed “incremental improvements”.
September 23, 2024 at 1:22 PM
After a deep dive into 9 of the 22 professional bodies, #OPBAS found that the majority have actually declined or remained static in their overall effectiveness, while only 3 showed “incremental improvements”.
Despite 6 years of urging professional bodies to pull up their socks, OPBAS has not seen "any material improvements in… effectiveness in the core areas” of their work, proving that it is now time for HM Treasury to push ahead with #AML supervisory reform:
www.spotlightcorruption.org/aml-supervis...
www.spotlightcorruption.org/aml-supervis...
Damning report proves that urgent AML supervisory reform is critical - Spotlight on Corruption
The UK is not effectively supervising the legal and accountancy professions for money laundering risks, according to the latest assessment of the 22 supervisory authorities responsible for overseeing ...
www.spotlightcorruption.org
September 23, 2024 at 1:22 PM
Despite 6 years of urging professional bodies to pull up their socks, OPBAS has not seen "any material improvements in… effectiveness in the core areas” of their work, proving that it is now time for HM Treasury to push ahead with #AML supervisory reform:
www.spotlightcorruption.org/aml-supervis...
www.spotlightcorruption.org/aml-supervis...
The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision #OPBAS published its latest report evaluating the effectiveness of AML supervision across the UK professional services sector.
hubs.li/Q045_hWC0
hubs.li/Q045_hWC0
OPBAS Report Assesses AML Supervision Across UK Professional Services
OPBAS Report Assesses AML Supervision Across UK Professional Services
hubs.li
March 10, 2026 at 10:33 AM
The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision #OPBAS published its latest report evaluating the effectiveness of AML supervision across the UK professional services sector.
hubs.li/Q045_hWC0
hubs.li/Q045_hWC0