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Politically Exposed Persons: Current Regime and Reforms

Banks and other financial institutions are required to conduct enhanced customer due diligence when dealing with people identified as PEPs. This is intended to help trace and put a stop to the financing of terrorism. It has been argued that, in some cases, financial institutions have declined to handle accounts of UK PEPs as a result. This process of withdrawing financial services for PEP’s has been described as ‘de-risking’.

The current anti-money laundering rules are set out in Money Laundering Regulations 2007, which implement the EU’s Third Money Laundering Directive in the UK. The Fourth Money Laundering Directive states that the enhanced due diligence measures, current required for foreign PEPs, should be extended to domestic PEPs. This directive has yet to be agreed in the European Parliament. The UK Government has stated its intention to implement new money-laundering regulations by June 2017.