In determining the penalty, the regulator considered the firm's early admission of the breaches
A UK-based law firm, Tedstone George & Tedstone Solicitors, has been fined £13,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) following an inspection that revealed widespread non-compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
The SRA team conducted a review of 11 client files at the Stafford firm last year, finding that none of the files met all AML requirements, The Law Society Gazette reported.
The inspection flagged a significant gap in the firm's compliance efforts, as no client and matter risk assessments were found on the reviewed files. As a result, the SRA instructed the firm to implement a comprehensive compliance plan for risk assessments and review all open client matters to ensure they met regulatory standards. The firm reported that it completed these changes by February.
Tedstone George & Tedstone admitted that between 2011 and 2017, it failed to properly determine the extent of customer due diligence, and from 2017 to 2023, it lacked a formal process to assess the level of risk in client matters. The firm explained that it previously conducted risk assessments informally but acknowledged that these were not appropriately documented. It confirmed that new AML policies and procedures are now in place and will be applied to all future instructions.
The SRA described the firm's breaches as “long-standing and serious,” noting that they persisted beyond a reasonable timeframe despite the regulator's widely publicized guidance on AML obligations. The regulator emphasized that merely stating risk assessments were carried out without documentation was insufficient. It commended the firm for taking steps to become fully compliant but stressed that these efforts came only after the SRA’s intervention.
In determining the penalty, the SRA took into account the firm’s early admission of the breaches. As a result, the financial sanction was set at 2 percent of the firm’s annual domestic turnover and reduced to £13,000. The firm was also ordered to pay an additional £1,350 in costs.
In a related development, the SRA recently appointed Alexandra Jones as its new director of anti-money laundering. Jones, who joined in August, brings experience from her former role as the chief executive of the Registry Trust, senior positions at the Financial Ombudsman Service, and banking. Her appointment is part of the regulator’s efforts to intensify its enforcement actions.
The SRA reported a substantial increase in its firm inspections and reviews, with a 34 percent rise in site visits and a 350 percent increase in desk-based reviews over the past year. The regulator also conducted a data collection exercise in August and September, requesting AML, sanctions, and suspicious activity report data from all regulated firms.
