The increasing harms caused by those who use bank facilities and other financial institution to launder money is basically the reason for continuous strict and complex rules developed by the European Union as a measure to combat criminal activities, even though the UK has not merely followed. Many legitimate bank account owners are affected as they have to face through due diligence checks, and the risk of having their accounts closed or blocked especially when there is a trace of illegal transactions. This situation is though regrettable but necessary to ensure that criminals found guilty are brought to judgement. The menaces affecting the UK involve the creaking and crumbling of its anti-money laundering infrastructure because of the exception of the well-resourced and increasingly professional compliance, and also the ability of those running the system to efficiently and intelligently handle the sector.
A compliance officer of a bank is supposed to be equipped with a strategy of the clever algorithm to detect suspicious transaction in any customer’s account and subsequently send a Suspicious Activity Report to the National Crime Agency which will in turn critically look into the SAR and define it and the way to tackle it. The NCA under the UK law has just seven days or maximum a calendar month to investigate the SAR and respond to it else the transaction will be given clean bill of health. However, the banks can resort to blocking customers’ accounts found suspicion and indefinitely keep the funds in their custody, though some customers could flame up and even involve their lawyers, in most cases, the issue got settled traditionally because of the expensive nature of suing the banks.
