New financial crime combating plan was released in UK

UK government has recently released a new action plan to combat financial crimes that among other things will include actions on cryptoassets.

Criminal elements will have nowhere left to hide their illegal gains due to a joint action made by government and businesses. The Economic Crime Plan drawn up by H.M. Treasury and the Home Office is aimed to improve the way economic crime is handled, creating better cooperation between authorities, forces of law and order, and the private sector.

In order to reform the current Suspicious Activity Reporting regime, the aforesaid authorities will also receive a financial support of £6.5 million from Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS and Santander UK.

The action plan was agreed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and other officials. Chancellor Hammond, commented on the situation:

"The UK has one of the toughest systems for combatting money laundering, but too many people are still falling victim to fraud. This crime fuels everything from drug dealing to modern slavery, fundamentally undermining people’s faith in our financial system and impacting economic growth. By bringing together leaders from across government, law enforcement and business, we can better tackle the scourge of dirty money, and ensure the UK continues to be one of the safest places in the world to invest and do business."

Adoption of the above-mentioned document discloses the government plans on cryptocurrency businesses. They intent to take action to ensure cryptocurrencies are not used for money laundering and other illegal activities. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the country’s financial regulator, will supervise the regulations, meaning it will introduce and maintain a sufficient AML regime for cryptocurrency companies.

Further, an Asset Recovery Action Plan will help reclaim the proceeds of crime, including funds retained outside the U.K. According to the H.M. Treasury and the Home Office announcement, £1.6 billion was returned back from criminal elements between 2010 and 2018.

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