(Lab) [V]: My
Lords, I declare my interests as chair of the independent
reference group of the National Crime Agency.
Suspicious activity reports are an essential tool in
combating financial crime, fraud and the funding of terrorism,
but is the Minister satisfied that the NCA has
sufficient resources to deal with the volume of such reports?
Given that banks are assiduous submitters of SARs, with nearly
400,000 last year, is she satisfied that building societies, with
only 22,000 submissions, and solicitors, with fewer than 3,000,
are pulling their weight?
(Con): My Lords, the National Crime
Agency was set up to tackle crimes that take place at a
national rather than a local level. I am confident that they have
adequate resources to carry out the task at hand.
(Lab) [V]: My Lords,
when a bank freezes a customer’s account without asking the
National Crime Agency for consent, there
currently is no statutory timetable specifying when they must
unfreeze those funds. Does the Minister believe that there should
be a maximum time for which accounts can be frozen?
: The regulations are not prescriptive in setting out how
firms should carry out their due diligence. Instead, they require
firms to take a proportionate approach that is commensurate with
their assessment of the risk. I think that is the right approach
for the Government to take.
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