Overview

Barristers, chambers and BSB entities need to be aware of the risk of becoming involved in money laundering and/or terrorist financing and understand their obligations.

  • If you undertake work that falls within the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regulations, then you have specific obligations under the Regulations. These include the requirement to carry out a risk assessment, undertake Customer Due Diligence before acting, keep a record of your compliance with the Regulations and disclose suspicious activity to the authorities. You will need to be able to determine whether the service that you are providing to your client is subject to the Regulations. Read our guidance to help you understand whether the Regulations apply to your practice and your obligations.
  • If you are a barrister acting in a matter that is not covered by the Regulations, you still have an obligation not to commit an offence within the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Terrorism Act 2000. Read our guidance about your obligations.
  • Sanctions are restrictive measures that can be put in place to fulfil a range of purposes. In the UK, these include complying with UN and other international obligations, supporting foreign policy and national security objectives, as well as maintaining international peace and security, and preventing terrorism. The prohibitions and requirements in these Regulations apply to conduct by all UK persons, including all barristers and BSB entities. Read more information here about your obligations.

The BSB is responsible for the supervision of barristers and BSB entities under the Money Laundering Regulations. Regulation 46 requires us to:

  • Adopt a risk-based approach (regulation 17).
  • Approve self-employed barristers and owners and managers of BSB entities to carry out work under the Regulations (regulation 26).
  • Publish an Annual Report containing information about supervision activity undertaken to encourage the reporting of actual or potential breaches of the Regulations and measures carried out to monitor, and enforce, compliance by barristers and BSB entities with their obligations (regulation 46A). 
  • Make a Suspicious Activity Report to the National Crime Agency if there is a suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing (regulation 46(5))
  • Provide information and guidance (regulation 47).
  • Appoint a responsible officer to monitor compliance with the Regulations (regulation 49(2)(b)).
  • Co-operate with other supervisory authorities, HM Treasury and law enforcement authorities (regulation 50(1)).
  • Provide a register of Trust and Company Service Providers to HMRC (regulation 54(2))

The BSB is subject to oversight regulation by the Office for Professional Body AML Supervision (OPBAS). OPBAS has published a Sourcebook on how the BSB and other professional body supervisors can meet their obligations in relation to ML/TF supervision.

Latest News

Changes to the LSAG Guidance, 23 April 2025

The Legal Sector Affinity Group has today published an updated version of its Guidance for the legal sector, which has been approved by HM Treasury. This replaces interim guidance that was published as addenda in 2024 pending HM Treasury approval.

Please see our guidance page for further details.

IMPORTANT: Barristers, BSB entities and chambers staff should read the Anti-Money Laundering Guidance for the Legal Sector in conjunction with R (on the application of World Uyghur Congress) v National Crime Agency [2024] EWCA Civ 715 in which the Court of Appeal held that the “adequate consideration” exemption in section 329(2)(c) has no application to the offences in section 327 or section 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act. The guidance is in the process of being amended to reflect this judgment and we are working with other Supervisors to do so. In the meantime, the Bar Council has published a practice note to assist barristers, but it is important to note that this has not been approved by HM Treasury.

Government consultation on structural reform of supervision

In 2023, HM Treasury launched a consultation on reforming anti-money laundering (AML) supervision. This follows their 2022 Review of the UK’s regulatory and supervisory regime, which concluded that while there had been continued improvement to the regime, some weaknesses in supervision may need to be addressed through structural reform.

The objectives are:

  1. Increased effectiveness
  2. Better information sharing
  3. Feasibility and timely implementation.

The outcome of the consultation has important implications if AML supervision of the Bar is transferred to another body. Barristers that conduct work under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) may be subject to another supervisor, which could be another legal sector regulator (such as the SRA) or a public body.

The consultation sets out four options:

  1. OPBAS+: no structural change but enhanced powers for OPBAS, the current oversight regulator for the legal and accountancy sector regulators.
  2. Professional Body Supervisor (PBS) consolidation: There could be either one accountancy sector supervisor and one legal sector supervisor, both with UK-wide remits, or one accountancy sector supervisor and one legal sector supervisor within each jurisdiction. Under this model, barristers could be supervised under the MLRs by another legal sector regulator such as the SRA.
  3. Single Professional Services Supervisor: A single body would supervise all legal and accountancy sector firms or sole practitioners, including barristers, under the MLRs. This would probably be a public body rather than a PBS.
  4. Single Anti-Money Laundering Supervisor: As above but also including the statutory regulators (HMRC, Gambling Commission and FCA)

Additionally, they are seeking views on whether to expand requirements on supervisors and their regulated populations relating to sanctions compliance.

The consultation closed on 30 September 2023. You can read our response on our website.

National Crime Agency and Suspicious Activity Reports

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has a range of resources on its website including podcasts, information about making a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) and newsletters about action taken in response to SARs.

A new portal for making SARs was launched in 2024. The aim of delivering this new platform is to make the portal more user friendly for those who need to make reports about suspicious activity under the Proceeds of Crime Act, which should lead to better quality information being collected and analysed. Whilst the National Crime Agency (NCA) has told us that it does not have particular concerns about the quality of SARs submitted by barristers, it continues to stress that the quality of a SAR, including as much detail possible, can affect their ability to prioritise and process the report. It can also affect the relevant agency’s decision or ability to investigate. You can read more about this, and how the NCA uses SARs, on their website.

If you require specific advice on making a SAR you can contact the Bar Council Ethical Enquiries Service for further assistance and guidance.

Protocol with the Bar Council

The General Council of the Bar is the designated Professional Body Supervisor under the Regulations. In line with our Protocol for ensuring regulatory independence, supervisory responsibility is delegated to the Bar Standards Board. We have a Protocol for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing with the Bar Council which sets our respective roles under the Regulations.

Contacting us with a concern about Money Laundering

The BSB’s Money Laundering Hotline is a confidential service that anyone can use to report a concern to us about a person or an organisation we regulate, in connection with Money Laundering.

If you have any comments or questions about this page, please contact us.

Last updated 23 Apr 2025