Independent advice built on time inside the regulator.
AML UK was founded in 2017, the year the UK's Money Laundering Regulations were recast. Our partners have led financial crime supervision at the FCA, headed MLRO functions at UK banks and prosecuted proceeds-of-crime cases.
Why we exist.
The National Crime Agency estimates that hundreds of billions of pounds of illicit finance flow through or via the United Kingdom each year, and the UK's own National Risk Assessment continues to identify the country as one of the most exposed major economies in the world. Every regulated firm carries a share of the responsibility for detecting, deterring and disrupting that flow.
Yet compliance can too easily become paperwork — a policy no one reads, a monitoring rule no one has tested, a training deck no one remembers. We work with UK firms that want an AML programme which actually reduces risk: one that a supervisor, a board and a front-line colleague can each recognise as fit for purpose, and that stands up to a Section 166 review or a criminal investigation without last-minute reconstruction.
Our starting point is that the regulatory regime is a floor, not a ceiling. Firms that reduce financial crime exposure to the level their own risk assessment actually demands enjoy a durable commercial advantage — cheaper insurance, quicker banking, faster authorisation and materially less senior-management time absorbed by remediation.
Four commitments that shape every engagement.
We do not sell software, screening data or outsourced onboarding. Our recommendations are agnostic and answerable only to your board.
The MLR 2017 demand a risk-based approach. We calibrate controls to the size, complexity and risk profile of your firm — never to a generic template.
Every framework we produce is written to withstand a Section 166 review, a supervisor visit or a criminal investigation.
Financial crime work is inherently sensitive. Engagements are covered by legal professional privilege where applicable, and by strict information barriers throughout.
A senior-only bench.
Former Head of Financial Crime Supervision at a major UK regulator. Leads authorisation and enforcement engagements.
MLRO of a UK challenger bank and a large EMI. Advises on wholesale and correspondent banking risk.
Solicitor-advocate and former SRA panel member. Leads work with law firms, TCSPs and estate agents.