Cryptocurrencies

Lord Bridges of Headley Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

I hope the third time is at least in part the charm. It is a criminal offence for a crypto asset exchange provider or custodian wallet provider to operate in the UK without anti-money laundering registration, and the FCA is empowered to take enforcement action against such a firm and its offices. The FCA is contacting firms on this list to establish whether they are operating in the UK, and it will take appropriate follow-up action.

[Lord Bridges of Headley (Con)]

My Lords, I would like to pick my noble friend up on the Answer she gave to the noble Lord, Lord Haskel. My understanding is that the Government have consulted on the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendation that international standards be brought in to clamp down on crypto- currencies being used for money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions busting. There was a consultation last summer, and my understanding is that it ended on 14 October. Can she be very precise, given the current international situation and crisis we are in: when will the Government implement these recommendations?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I will have to write to my noble friend with the precise answer to that question, but I can say that there were discussions at the G7 yesterday, in part on this issue, following which we are considering how the UK along with its allies can prevent crypto assets emerging as loopholes to evade sanctions. Also, at an international level we will seek to intensify our lobbying efforts to drive improved anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing regulation, licensing and supervision across other jurisdictions, as well as the UK.