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Padfield, Nicola --- "Country Report: Anti-money laundering rules in the United Kingdom" [2004] ELECD 135; in Pieth, Mark; Aiolfi, Gemma (eds), "A Comparative Guide to Anti-Money Laundering" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: A Comparative Guide to Anti-Money Laundering

Editor(s): Pieth, Mark; Aiolfi, Gemma

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843766735

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Country Report: Anti-money laundering rules in the United Kingdom

Author(s): Padfield, Nicola

Number of pages: 81

Extract:

6. Country Report: Anti-money
laundering rules in the United
Kingdom
Oxford Analytica Ltd1 up-dated by Nicola
Padfield2

I INTRODUCTION: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LONDON AS A FINANCIAL
CENTRE
A host of legislation designed to counter money laundering may result in the
City of London moving beyond its reputation as a money laundering centre.
London is a sophisticated and important international financial centre, where
capital can move relatively freely and easily. Criticisms of the anti-money
laundering legal regime now focus more on the lack of effective enforcement
of this legislation. This report reviews the current UK institutions against
money laundering before describing the UK criminal and supervisory law.
The UK financial services sector accounts for nearly 5 per cent of UK GDP,
employs a million people and produced net overseas earnings of £31.2 bn in
1999.3 London ranks as one of the world's top three financial centres along-
side New York and Tokyo. There are more foreign banks in London than any
other global financial centre and London is the largest financial centre for
cross border bank lending, accounting for 20 per cent of global cross border
bank lending.
The UK retail banking sector is dominated by 12 major retail banks. In
March 2001 there were 309 banks authorized to accept deposits under the
Banking Act 1987. In addition there were 355 branches of European autho-
rized institutions entitled to accept deposits in the UK. The UK has 67 autho-
rized building societies managing ...