The Pandora Papers leak of confidential files again highlighted that clients may seek to misuse corporate structures and trust arrangements to hide assets. While the structures may be lawfully established in many jurisdictions, the assets placed in them can be tainted as deriving from the proceeds of crime.

Accordingly, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called on various professions, including Lawyers, Accountants, Financial advisers, Trustee service providers and Real Estate dealers to do more to prevent financial crime.
FATF has support from groups ranging from the UN, OECD, World Bank, and Transparency International, to national and regional law enforcement agencies. And the G-20 nations’ leaders are pressing for beneficial ownership registers to be compiled in high risk countries. 

This session will explore how, and why, banking and financial controls seeking to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing have been gradually expanded into the traditional professions, including:
• What is the FATF’s perspective on the major risk areas, and how they should be addressed?
• How have Bar Associations and Law Societies around the world tried to educate, guide, and monitor their members commitment to AML requirements?
• What more can be done to make the professions resilient against financial crime, and ensure AML-CFT controls are sufficiently adapted from their banking origins to meet the special features of the legal profession?