In a speech at the Law Society Economic Crime Conference 2026, Financial Conduct Authority Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight Steve Smart outlined how the FCA plans to begin assuming responsibility for anti-money laundering supervision of 60,000 legal and accounting entities in late 2028. The regulator will use a proportionate, intelligence led approach focused on the effectiveness of firms’ core controls and the risks they present, while targeting professional enablers of financial crime and limiting unnecessary demands on compliant firms. The FCA is working with Professional Body Supervisors and firms to build sector specific expertise. It plans to identify higher-risk entities through data, intelligence and technology, drawing on systems that process more than 56 million records each day, while retaining human judgment. Existing due diligence, risk monitoring and suspicious activity reporting fundamentals under the Money Laundering Regulations will remain familiar, with the amount of information requested determined by firms’ risk. Smart also emphasized information sharing among regulators, law enforcement and firms, including through the National Crime Agency’s data fusion program. The FCA will continue exploring technology such as agentic supervision and combining intelligence from the legal and accounting sectors with partner data to identify organized crime activity.
2026-09-17Financial Conduct Authority
UK Financial Conduct Authority outlines risk based AML supervision of 60,000 legal and accounting entities from late 2028
The UK Financial Conduct Authority plans to apply proportionate, intelligence led AML supervision to 60,000 legal and accounting entities from late 2028. It will focus on higher-risk firms and professional enablers while limiting burdens on compliant entities. The approach will combine sector expertise, partner intelligence and technology, with human judgment retained.