Regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for anti-money laundering (AML) will feel “very different” for law firms, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) chief executive has predicted.

Paul Philip said he was “disappointed” by the government’s decision yesterday to transfer the regulation of all lawyers’ AML activities to the FCA – the SRA had lobbied to be the sole supervisor for the legal sector.

In a media briefing at yesterday’s SRA compliance conference in Birmingham shortly after the announcement – the content of which he said the SRA was not told about in advance – Mr Philip said: “There’s been plenty of comment about the fact that our fines are increasing as the months go by because we’re just finding more and more just [AML] non-compliance. I think the FCA will c

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