Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

Tulip Siddiq Excerpts

Monday 10th July 2023 General Committees

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham.

The Labour party is completely committed to supporting the global effort to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. We will support the draft regulations today to remove Cambodia and Morocco from the list of high-risk third countries, reflecting the same changes made to the Financial Action Task Force’s list.

I do have a question for the Minister about the performance of British overseas territories that remain on the list. It is worth noting that, despite the changes to the list that the SI introduces, two British overseas territories remain on it: Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands. The reputational damage that does to the UK cannot be overstated, not least in light of the recent US Treasury report which described Britain as a “higher-risk jurisdiction” comparable to financial centres “such as Cyprus” in enabling money laundering. What is the Minister doing to work with his counterparts in Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands to ensure they raise their standards, and can he update me on where Britain’s overseas territories are on delivering against their commitments to introduce public beneficial ownership registers, like the UK’s, by the end of this year?