Trying to tell your AML from your EDI? Compliance loves its acronyms, but sometimes they can be a headache.
Our jargon buster is a searchable glossary of terms with handy links to key resources that will help you understand all you need to know about compliance.
If you need help with a term that we are yet to list here, just click below and let us know!
All of the key terms and definitions you need to understand when working within compliance.
The Fifth Money Laundering Directive
Sixth Money Laundering Directive. An EU directive that focuses on tackling crimes enabled by money laundering (including trafficking, bribery, and so on).
Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD)..
The Anti-Money Laundering International Database (AMLID) is a secure, multilingual database of anti-money laundering laws and regulations, also containing information on national contacts and authorities. AMLID is an important reference tool for law enforcement officers involved in cross-jurisdictional work and is published by IMOLIN (See International Money Laundering Network)
Anti-Money laundering refers to the policies, laws, and regulations to implement in order to prevent financial crimes.
The Bank Secrecy Act (primary U.S. anti-money laundering law, amended by the USA Patriot Act in 2001. Among other measures, it imposes money laundering controls on financial institutions and many other businesses, including the requirement to report and to keep records of various financial transactions.
Beneficial owner, officer or manager in the accounting sector. All of these must be approved by their regulatory body, including passing a basic DBS check.
Chief Compliance Officer. However, more commonly the CCO is a Chief Commercial Officer.
Combatting the financing of terrorism (also known as CTF).
Chief Governance Officer
The fraud prevention service in the United Kingdom. At the moment, there are more than 250 members of CIFAS in the financial sector and other industries.
Counter-terrorist financing (also know as CFT)
Customer Due Diligence is the identification, verification as well as the subsequent KYC process to be able to adequately assess the risk a customer poses in respect of an organisation’s financial crime exposure.
Chief Information Security Officer.
The UK disclosure and barring service is a government body that helps to prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children.
Designated contract market.
Enhanced Due Diligence is additional, ‘enhanced’ customer due diligence measures need to be applied by businesses and organisations in higher-risk situations, as per regulations 33-35 of the Money Laundering Regulations.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion.
Environment, Health and Safety
The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental body that is responsible for developing and promoting anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards across the world.
The Financial Conduct Authority has a number of statutory objectives. This includes enhancing and protecting the UK financial system’s integrity, ensuring it isn't being utilised for a purpose that is associated with any financial crime.
The Financial Intelligence Unit is a central national agency that is responsible for getting, evaluating and transmitting disclosures regarding suspicious transactions to the relevant, competent authorities. In the UK, this is the NCA.
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is the supervisory authority for money service businesses not supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) high-value dealers, trust or company service providers not supervised by the FCA or a professional body.
Her Majesty's Treasury is the UK government's economic and finance ministry, maintaining control over public spending, setting the direction of the UK's economic policy and working to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth.
The Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT) is a partnership between law enforcement and the financial sector to exchange and analyse information relating to money laundering and wider economic threats.
The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) produces helpful guidance for the financial services industry on interpreting the MLR and setting out good practice in countering money laundering.
Know Your Customer. Have sufficient information as to the reasoning why a customer behaves in a certain way.
Know Your Customer’s Customers
Know Your Correspondent Bank
Know Your Employee
The Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) replaced the previous Market Abuse Directive and established a strengthened and expanded civil market abuse regime across the EU. MAR extended the market abuse regime so that it applies to more venues, more instruments, and more behaviours.
A Money Laundering Reporting Officer is responsible for making certain that measures for combating money laundering within the business are effective. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), an MLRO is also typically the nominated officer.
The National Crime Agency is an organisation that leads the United Kingdom in fighting against organised and serious crime. It replaced the Serious Organised Crime Agency in October 2013.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) helps to ensure that financial sanctions are properly understood, implemented and enforced in the United Kingdom. OFSI is part of HM Treasury.
Occupational health and safety.
The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) is a regulator set up by the UK government to strengthen the UK's anti-money laundering (AML) supervisory regime and ensure the professional body AML supervisors provide consistently high standards of AML supervision.
In financial regulation, a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function. A PEP generally presents a higher risk for potential involvement in bribery and corruption by virtue of their position and the influence that they may hold.
Roundtable on sustainable palm oil.
Quality, Health, Safety and Environment
Quality Management System
Swap execution facility.
Safety, Health, Environment and Quality
Suspicious Activity Reports are made to the NCA about suspicions of terrorist financing or money laundering.
An Ultimate Beneficial Owner is a person or entity that is the ultimate beneficiary of a company. Certain financial and other organisations, including banks, currency exchange offices and insurers, are subject to mandatory disclosure of the UBO if doing business with any party.
An Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) is a type of court order issued by a British court to compel the target to reveal the sources of their unexplained wealth.