A regulatory investigation uncovered long-running failures in anti-money laundering compliance
A solicitor’s firm has been fined £25,000 after a regulatory investigation found sustained failures to comply with anti-money laundering requirements over a number of years.
The enforcement action follows an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which concluded with a regulatory settlement agreement dated 27 January 2026 and published on 2 February 2026. The firm also agreed to pay £600 towards the regulator’s investigation costs.
The investigation was prompted by an inspection carried out by the SRA’s Anti-Money Laundering Proactive Supervision Team. That inspection identified multiple areas of concern in relation to the firm’s systems and controls intended to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
According to the SRA, the firm failed to keep an up-to-date written firm-wide risk assessment for extended periods between December 2019 and August 2025. Such assessments are a mandatory requirement under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 and are intended to identify and manage the specific risks arising from a firm’s work.
The regulator also found that the firm did not regularly review or update its policies, controls and procedures to address those risks. In six separate files, the firm failed to follow or implement its own internal anti-money laundering procedures. In the same matters, required client and matter risk assessments were either incomplete or not carried out at all.
The SRA concluded that these shortcomings demonstrated a persistent disregard for statutory and regulatory obligations. While the investigation did not identify any direct financial loss or evidence of actual harm to clients, the regulator said the failures exposed the firm to an increased risk of being used for money laundering or terrorist financing.
A significant proportion of the firm’s work fell within the scope of the money laundering regulations, with conveyancing forming a major part of its practice. The SRA noted that conveyancing is widely recognised as a higher-risk area for financial crime due to the movement of large sums of money.
The firm admitted the breaches and cooperated fully with the investigation. It also took steps to remedy the issues identified, including updating its firm-wide risk assessment, revising its policies and procedures, rolling out staff training, and reviewing live files to ensure compliance by August 2025.
In determining the sanction, the SRA assessed the nature of the misconduct as serious and the risk of harm as medium. Applying its published enforcement guidance, the regulator reduced the final penalty to £25,000 to reflect mitigation and remedial action. The decision has been published in the public interest to maintain transparency and confidence in legal regulation.