Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive on the ability in future of members of the House of Lords to continue to serve on the boards of banks and financial services companies; and if he will make a statement.
Harriett Baldwin
Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. The Government will publish an Impact Assessment in due course. This will set out the benefits and costs for businesses in a wide range of sectors, including banking and financial services.
The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. Board appointments will remain a matter for individual banks and financial services companies in line with relevant codes and regulations. The Treasury regularly raises the Directive with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.
