Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recommendations in the Addendum to the 2015 Madrid Guiding Principle 10(29)(g) to "enhance the traceability and transparency of financial transactions, including by ensuring that financial institutions can share information, domestically and internationally within the same financial group, for the purposes of managing money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks and supplying the competent authorities with comprehensive information on criminal schemes; and identifying and registering unregulated money remitters, and assess and address the risks associated with the use of cash, unregulated remittance systems (including hawalas) and other financial products including prepaid cards".

The sharing of information on suspicions of money laundering and terrorist financing within a group is permitted under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

In the Criminal Finances Act 2017 the Government introduced provisions that will allow certain regulated sector entities to share information between themselves, and with the NCA, where there is a suspicion of money laundering and terrorist financing. Enabling firm-to-firm information sharing through a legal gateway encourages the reporting sector to share information to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.