Season 8, Episode 1: Santander, the Post Office and money laundering for Columbian cartels

Anti-money laundering (AML) control failings at Santander Bank UK opened the door to a financial intermediary with links to Colombian drug cartels operating in Britain. Beltcastle, a payments service provider, is "Customer A" featured in the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) final notice in December 2022 to illustrate the failures behind Santander's £107 million fine.Beltcastle, which was authorised by the UK regulator for eight years, put about £1.3 billion in cash through the UK Post Office. The firm had accounts at Barclays, NatWest, and Ghana International Bank. The Post Office was used in the suspected laundering scheme, passing thousands of pounds regularly from Beltcastle through its cash collection and processing service.The case has raised serious issues about adverse media searches and information sharing, as Rachel Wolcott, senior editor in London, tells Alexander Robson, managing editor, in this episode to kick off the new series.The "Compliance Clarified" podcast series covers the wide range of topics which affect compliance at financial services firms, and aims to help compliance officers make sense of the often-challenging regulatory environment. It considers the big challenges of the day and offers practical ideas for emerging good practice.Programme notesSPECIAL REPORT: Santander AML failures opened door to intermediary linked to Colombian drug cartels; UK Post Office, banks used to move £1.3 billion: https://www.reuters.com/article/bc-finreg-santander-aml-failures-drug-ca/special-report-santander-aml-failures-opened-door-to-intermediary-linked-to-colombian-drug-cartels-uk-post-office-banks-used-to-move-1-3-billion-idUSKBN2WO1W8From behind Regulatory Intelligence paywallUK Companies House reports few operational incidents, employs no dedicated risk managers: https://regintel-content.thomsonreuters.com/document/I118F6F40EB2A11ED9DA6D001824C624BCompanies House's new identity verification measures fall short of minimum standards, MPs hear: http://go-ri.tr.com/I2JILVUK admits hundreds of millions laundered through Post Office annually, FCA sets out "current expectations" to address risk: http://go-ri.tr.com/RcNc1qFor further information, contact [email protected] or [email protected] Compliance Clarified is a podcast from Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence.Listen to wide-ranging, insightful discussions on all things compliance for financial services firms. We delve into the hot topics of the day, the challenges faced and offer up practical ideas for emerging good practice. We de-mystify regulation and explore the art, as well as the science, of the ever-expanding role of the compliance officer.  Enforcements, digital transformation, regulatory change, governance, culture, conduct risk – anything and everything impacting the compliance function is up for discussion.