MLD5 aims to tighten loop-holes that have enabled financial crime to seep through existing regulations by introducing further clarification to definitions and information gathering requirements.
The key objectives of MLD5 are to improve the transparency of information relating to ownership of different types of legal entity and their underlying assets, to better enable firms' to perform valuable due diligence on their customers and to progress macro efforts to disrupt the finances of money launderers, by hindering their capacity to raise and transfer funds. MLD5 will also facilitate greater cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).
While the changes introduced are not significant to many firms, they could still be impactful.