Veronica Stratford-Tuke Reacts to the UK Government's New Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy

'The UK has published its new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy (AMLAR) 2026-2029, which sets out the government's response to money laundering. The National Crime Agency has repeatedly estimated that over £100 billion is laundered through or within the UK each year, involving organised criminals, sanctions evaders and hostile states.'

'The strategy is welcome, especially the commitment for law enforcement and the private sector to work together on the most harmful money laundering, rather than box ticking. But improvements on paper are not the same as keeping dirty money out of the UK.'

'RUSI's experts have identified important blind spots the UK will need to address for the strategy to have its desired impact and they include:

• Public-Private Partnership (PPP): PPP success to date is mostly information sharing between banks and law enforcement, and sharing information and acting on it are not the same. How law enforcement builds the depth of relationship with fintech, crypto asset, legal and accountancy firms, and how each finds shared value in aligning their efforts, will be vital.
   
• Resourcing: New funding to improve financial intelligence, the UK Financial Intelligence Unit and asset recovery are welcome. But this funding comes from annual payments from regulated firms through the Economic Crime Levy and lacks a sustainable funding model.
   
• Anti-Money Laundering Supervisory (AML) Reform: The reform will consolidate AML supervision of lawyers, accountants and trust and company service providers under the FCA in 2028. But this won’t automatically improve the prevention and detection of money laundering, and the government needs to define what will make the reform work in practice.'

Veronica Stratford-Tuke is a Research Fellow in RUSI's Centre for Finance and Security.