Bribery, fraud and anti-money laundering | UK Regulatory Outlook April 2024

Financial Conduct Authority 2024/2025 Business Plan

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its 2024/25 Business Plan, as a useful reminder of its objectives and areas of regulatory focus for the financial sector.

Over the next year, the FCA will focus on reducing and preventing financial crime, prioritising the needs of consumers and strengthening the UK's position in global wholesale markets. This follows its work update published in February 2024 (as reported in our previous Regulatory Outlook), which highlighted the need for firms to tackle fraud and ensure their systems keep up with the increasing sophistication of criminal groups.  

For further information see our Insight.

Delegated regulation amending list of high-risk third countries under MLD4

The European Commission adopted a delegated regulation to amend the list of high-risk third countries that have been identified as having strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the EU, under Article 9(2) of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive (MLD4).

The delegated regulation will amend the table in point I of the Annex by:

• removing Barbados, Gibraltar, Panama, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates; and
• adding Kenya and Namibia. 

The delegated act will now need to be submitted to the EU Parliament and Council for review and will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.