The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made public the list of the 95 countries it perceives as presenting high money laundering risks. The list, which sets out the countries that firms should pay the highest possible regard to in terms of AML compliance, was revealed by Compliance Complete earlier this month. The FCA described the directory as a 'high risk country list' and said it categorised those on it in terms of the current level of risk they posed to its financial crime objectives. The list is used by the regulator's financial crime team on supervisory visits to firms as well as the regulator's authorisation's department. The regulator said that during AML supervisory visits it would focus on business relationships which have higher risk factors. These risks include: country risk; company structures, political connections, the customer's or beneficial owner's reputation, source of wealth, source of funds, expected account activity, sector risk, and involvement in public
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