Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to prevent money laundering by foreign nationals.

The Government is committed to tackling illicit finance and economic crime. We have appointed an Anti-Corruption Champion Baroness Hodge to support the government's agenda in tackling corruption at home and overseas.

HM Treasury has been working with partners across the public and private sector to update our National Risk Assessment for money laundering and terrorist financing and to deliver Economic Crime Plan 2, the government’s public-private strategy to combat economic crime and strengthen the UK system. This includes work on HM Treasury-owned actions to reform our Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorist Financing supervisory regime, and to improve the effectiveness of the Money Laundering Regulations.

HM Treasury is responsible for the UK’s money laundering regulations which require that banks and other financial services companies apply enhanced customer due diligence and enhanced ongoing monitoring in any business relationships with a person established in high-risk jurisdictions as determined by the Financial Action Task Force or in relation to any relevant transaction where either of the parties to the transaction is established in a high-risk jurisdiction.

HM Treasury is also supporting the development of a new Anti-Corruption Strategy to be published in 2025 which will include measures that address the UK’s vulnerabilities to corruption and money laundering.