Legal

AML Compliance for Solicitors

Combining every AML service you need in one convenient place, SmartSearch makes anti money laundering checks for solicitors easy. We focus on meeting regulatory requirements in line with the SRA, so you don’t have to.

Ensuring Solicitors are AML Compliant

As The Law Society says, ‘compliance with money laundering obligations is one of the greatest challenges for solicitors in the UK today’. AML checks for solicitors can be an expensive, time-consuming task, and manual checks can often prove inaccurate, as they’re open to human error.

The SmartSearch platform is the most efficient and cost-effective way of carrying out money laundering checks for solicitors. We offer the only AML solution with full sanction and PEP screening, and ongoing monitoring. Our electronic verification is fast and reliable, and all our checks are automatically saved, so you can retrieve them on demand for audits and regulatory visits. New and existing clients can be onboarded in bulk, so you remain compliant at all times.

Just a few areas we can help you with

Know who you’re dealing with

We can verify the identity of your customers electronically in seconds, fulfilling your KYC requirements and provide automatic enhanced due diligence for any PEP or Sanctions matches.

Onboard customers

Our platform completes AML and KYC checks all in one place – and can even integrate with your existing system – streamlining your customer onboarding process, improving client experience and reducing costs.

Remain compliant

Through our user-friendly platform, identification, verification and ongoing monitoring are quick and easy to perform, ensuring you always remain fully AML compliant.

Monitor your clients

We take updates every day from the Dow Jones Watchlist, the most accurate, complete, and up-to-date PEP and Sanctions list in the world, to offer our unique daily monitoring service. This alerts you if a client’s PEP or Sanction status changes ensuring you’re always fully AML compliant.

Prevent fraud

Our comprehensive range of anti-fraud services can be tailored to your specific requirements, creating a bespoke fraud-prevention solution for your firm.

Be audit ready

With our monitoring system, you are always audit-ready. From audit note trails to the ability to batch-upload existing customers, we ensure you can evidence your compliance whenever you need to.
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Flexible AML Services for Solicitors

From KYC and sanctions screening to ongoing monitoring – you can access all our AML services in the holistic SmartSearch platform, but we know that flexibility is important. That’s why SmartSearch can integrate these products into your law firm’s software directly, to make AML checks for solicitors even easier, using existing files.

Our user-friendly app will even grant you access to these services when you’re out of the office, so you can verify your client’s identity on the go, and receive automated alerts to any change in their status.

WHO WE WORK WITH

What kind of law do we work with?

  • Conveyancing
  • Litigation
  • Commercial
  • Professional Regulations
  • Real Estate & Finance
  • Corporate Recovery & Insolvency
  • Business Crime
  • Will Writing
HEAR IT FROM OUR CUSTOMERS

Our services are used by 1 in 3 of the top 200 law firms

Ellisons Solicitors
The international corporate reports are brilliant, we would never be able to find the information on our clients as quickly or as easily as we do through SmartSearch. It is returned as a nice, easy to read PDF report with all the information clearly laid out, along with any PEP & Sanction matches Daniel Ayden
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Lupton Fawcett
Lupton Fawcett
A number of other integrations based on RESTful APIs have been built but none so smoothly as SmartSearch. Their API, the accompanying (very detailed) documentation and the support received from Carl Chadwick and his colleagues is a country-mile ahead of others. James Hood Head of IT
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You’re in good company

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What does DNFBP stand for?
    Short for designated non-financial businesses and professions, DNFBP is the acronym used to describe the additional occupations and industries which are legally obliged to comply with AML regulations, but don’t fit into the financial sector. Solicitors are a DNFBP, but so are estate agents, casinos, dealers in precious metals or stones, company service providers, tax advisors and external accountants.
  • Why do solicitors need to do AML checks?
    Solicitors and law firms are often just as vulnerable to money laundering and other forms of financial crime as businesses in the financial services sector. The Financial Action Task Force therefore requires that solicitors meet AML regulations and carry out anti money laundering checks – this is monitored by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority).
  • Who can certify documents for anti money laundering UK?
    Documents used to verify identity in AML checks must be certified by a reliable source. Some of the people who are qualified to certify these documents are: qualified lawyers or attorneys, accountants, licensed conveyancers, employees of the Homes and Communities Agency, and British Embassy or consulate staff.
  • Who enforces AML compliance for solicitors?
    The Law Society is officially named as the supervisory authority for solicitors and law firms, but it has passed on all regulatory duties to the SRA, or Solicitors Regulation Authority. The SRA therefore monitors the compliance of solicitors and law firms in accordance with AML regulations.
  • What is the legal services industry standard anti money laundering advice?
    The AML advice for the legal services industry is based on guidance published by the Legal Sector Affinity Group in 2018, as well as the 5th Money Laundering Directive, which arrived in January 2020. The compliance process includes carrying out a wide range of AML checks for solicitors, like sanctions and PEP screening, as well checking for adverse media, performing ongoing monitoring and implementing a risk-based approach.

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