Up to 70% of property firms surveyed for an anti-money laundering (AML) campaign have not changed their approach to onboarding new customers since sanctions were imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Research commissioned by AML software provider SmartSearch revealed that more than a third (34%) of firms in the finance and banking sector and 47% of those in the legal sector had also not changed their approach to new customers since the sanctions were imposed.

The survey is the second in SmartSearch’s continuing Electronic Verification Uncovered campaign, which aims to make financial firms aware of the dangers of relying on old-fashioned methods of identity verification.

Decision makers from 500 regulated UK businesses across the legal, property and finance sectors were questioned on a range of AML compliance issues, with answers revealing continuing shortfalls in the way some firms check on new and continuing customers, and how many still rely on hard-copy documents rather than digital checks to identify them.

SmartSearch also suggested that gaps in new customer checks were compounded by some property firms’ continued reliance on hard-copy documentation to verify new clients’ identities.

Almost half (45%) of those surveyed said they were using documents like passports or utility bills to identify new clients – even though 14% of them admitted they were “not confident” in their ability to spot a fake.

SmartSearch’s campaign has argued that regulated businesses should use digital onboarding to ensure they properly identify and screen clients, and the firm’s managing director, Martin Cheek, said the research shows the “worrying size of the challenge” when it comes to closing the AML loopholes being exploited by criminals.

“As the government increases its censures on companies for breaching compliance rules, some are continuing to risk fines and reputational damage by either failing to increase their surveillance in the light of sanctions or relying on outdated manual checks,” Cheek commented.

“Such firms are unwittingly exposing themselves, and the UK, to the proceeds of some of the world’s worst crimes – people trafficking, drug running, tax dodging and scammers who prey on the most vulnerable.

“Regulated businesses need to ensure they are doing everything they can to prevent these crimes and the only way to do so is to embrace electronic verification (EV). EV uses credit reference data, combined with other reliable sources, to create a unique ‘composite digital identity’ which is virtually impossible to fake.”

Share Story: