Two recent cases illustrate the increasingly serious view that the regulatory authorities are taking towards anti-money laundering (AML) failings. 

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has imposed a GBP45,000 fine plus GBP40,000 costs on Khalid Mohammed Sharif, a partner at law firm Child & Child, for not checking the identities of two clients who asked him to set up a British Virgin Islands company to manage two properties in central London. 

Last month, the Financial Conduct Authority fined the former Chief Executive of Sonali Bank (UK), Mohammed Ataur Rahman Prodhan, GBP76,400 for unsatisfactory AML checks, even though he was not directly responsible for AML compliance.