Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 18 June (HL16068), what guidance they provide, if any, to banks and other businesses about ensuring that routine anti-money laundering checks do not cause stress to customers, particularly when those banks or businesses have not been made aware of any change to the circumstances of and have no concerns as to the identity of an existing customer as set out in regulation 27(8) of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/692), and when those organisations may not be required to conduct such checks.

HM Treasury is responsible for the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which set out the high-level requirements on regulated businesses to combat money laundering. These Regulations are not prescriptive in setting out how customer due diligence (CDD) checks must be carried out, and instead require businesses to take a proportionate approach. Each business will therefore have their own policies based on their assessment of risks.

Specific guidance for banks on applying customer due diligence measures and ongoing monitoring of customers is included in guidance published by the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group. This guidance is approved by HM Treasury, and it highlights that a firm must apply CDD measures at appropriate times to its existing customers on a risk-sensitive basis.