Yacht Brokers & Money Laundering Regulation

There is an article in today's London Times about how the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) seems to think that Yacht Brokers should now be under the same sort of scrutiny as a Wall Street broker, that's not saying much.

2 rather corrupt African dictators are headlining this at the moment.

The Times:-

The yachting industry was exempted from financial rules aimed at tackling corruption despite growing evidence that superyachts can be used to launder dirty money, a report alleges.

Bodies representing the industry, said to be worth £3 billion to the British economy, lobbied successfully against plans to make yacht brokers register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) before they could set up client accounts — used to hold money for individual customers — with banks.


h
Inside Britain’s superyachts
Client accounts are common in the legal sector but professional bodies routinely advise law firms that they must be aware of the money-laundering risks and obligations to report suspicious activity.

The FCA quietly dropped the registration requirement for the yachting sector in 2014 but said yesterday that boat dealers would be required to register with HM Revenue & Customs to comply with anti-money-laundering regulations. The Association of Brokers and Yacht Agents said that having to comply with the FCA requirements would increase bureaucracy and have “dire consequences” for the sector, as client accounts were essential to the secure exchange of money.

Jane Gentry, of the association, said the FCA demand misunderstood the role of yacht brokers, the vast majority of whom dealt with small boats rather than superyachts. “Our members and people in the marine industry are all very aware of the money-laundering regulations and are all very careful,” said Ms Gentry.


Teodoro Obiang is accused of plundering Equatorial GuineaJEROME LEROY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
In a report on luxury goods and corruption, however, Transparency International says that “awareness of anti-money-laundering and anti-corruption measures within the [superyacht] sector seems to be poor”.

Superyachts feature in a number of major international investigations into alleged corruption and money laundering.


Kolawole Aluko is under investigation over corruption allegationsDANIEL ZUCHNIK/GETTY IMAGES - WIREIMAGE
A superyacht allegedly owned by Teodoro Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, was seized by the Dutch authorities in December last year. The 76-metre vessel,Ebony Shine, was impounded at the request of the Swiss courts but Equatorial Guinea has since protested that the yacht is the property of the state. Mr Obiang, 47, a former oil minister in his father’s government, faces trial in France over accusations of plundering his country to buy mansions, supercars and almost £1 million of Michael Jackson memorabilia.

The Nigerian authorities are searching for the superyachtGalactica Star, owned by the energy magnate Kolawole Aluko, after imposing a seizure order. Mr Aluko is under investigation over corruption allegations and has had other assets seized. The pop stars Beyoncé and Jay Z chartered the 65-metre yacht during a European holiday in 2015.

Transparency International’s report claims that compliance with anti-money-laundering rules by high-value retailers is “remarkably low”. In Britain, high-value dealers made just 135 obligatory “suspicious activity reports” to the National Crime Agency in 2014-15.