New measures to tackle on illegal money flows proposed

News Article - 09 June 2009
Category: Business

The government has proposed tougher regulations to curb money laundering and funding for terrorist groups.

Proposals in a new consultation paper stated that businesses would be required to keep better records in order to make it easier for auditors to backtrack the movement of money.

Other proposals included new licensing powers to make it more difficult for firms to set up as a bureaux de change and making sure all records were written in English.

Ed Balls, economic secretary at the Treasury, said: "The vast majority of bureaux de change, cheque cashers and money remitters are honest and important partners in the fight against crime.

"But the scale of the challenge we now face demands we strengthen our current financial controls so that we can root out money laundering and terrorist financing," he added.

The latest consultation is part of a series of initiatives to restrict the illegal flow of money, both with traditional fraud and the financing of terrorist activities.

Money service regulation has been considerably tightened by the government since the September 11th attacks in New York

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