New regulations amending current anti-money laundering rules have been published and are due to come into force on 30 June 2026.

The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2026 follow the publication last year of the Government’s response to its wide-ranging consultation on the effectiveness of existing anti-money laundering measures. As we commented upon at the time (here), the Government acknowledged that whilst the broad framework largely remained fit for purpose, there were a number of areas where greater clarity was needed so as to avoid inconsistent or overly cautious interpretations of the rules and, more generally, to improve the effectiveness of the regime for both regulated firms and their customers.

The Regulations follow through with the Government’s commitment to introduce changes which “represent a balanced approach to mitigating illicit finance risks and supporting businesses to invest and grow”. These include:

• Changing the requirement to apply Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) from “complex or unusually large” transactions to those which are “unusually complex or unusually large in each case given the nature of the transaction”;
• Narrowing the scope of countries designated as ‘high risk’ – requiring EDD to be carried out on customers established in them or on transactions related to them – to those “named on the list of High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action published by the Financial Action Task Force as such list has effect from time to time”;
• Updating currency thresholds from euros to sterling;
• Strengthening the regime governing cryptoasset businesses by aligning it with the regime established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026.

To read the Regulations in full, click here. The explanatory memorandum can be found here.