07 July 2010
International Anti Money Laundering
In order to comply with their anti money laundering obligations estate agents must undertake Customer Due Diligence, which includes making checks on their clients’ identity. One way to reduce the burden of making these checks is for the parties involved in property sales, including estate agents, Financial Institutions, and lawyers, to rely on each other more which would prevent the current duplication of Customer Due Diligence checks.
At the moment one of the barriers to encouraging reliance is that even if Party A relies on another Party B to make the checks, Party A remains completely responsible. However, the international anti money laundering policy making body, the Financial Action Task Force, is considering whether to change this rule. The NAEA belongs to the International Consortium of Real Estate Association ( ICREA), and ICREA is working hard to encourage this change, and other changes which will help reduce the anti money laundering compliance burden for estate agents, but in ways that will not damage the international fight against money laundering and serious & organised crime. The NAEA contributed to ICREA’s latest piece of work in this area, which is attached.
UPDATE 07-07-2010The International Consortium of Real Estate Agents has been lobbying the Financial Action Task Force to reduce the customer due diligence requirement for estate agents. The relevant correspondence is attached.
Downloads:LetterResponseExpertGroupReliance.pdfICREA_letter_FATF_President_15_sep_2009.pdf
WGEI response 28.6.10.pdf
