SRA says MTG Solicitors lacked compliant risk assessment and controls for nearly nine years
MTG Solicitors has been fined £21,033 after a Solicitors Regulation Authority inspection found anti-money laundering compliance failures at the London firm.
The firm, a recognised body based at 10 Broadway, London, also agreed to pay £600 towards the SRA’s investigation costs. The outcome was reached by regulatory settlement agreement dated 12 June 2026 and published on 30 June 2026.
The SRA said it carried out an investigation after an inspection by its AML Proactive Supervision Team. The inspection, conducted by desk-based review, identified concerns about the firm’s compliance with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017.
According to the agreement, MTG Solicitors failed to have in place an appropriate firm-wide risk assessment between 26 June 2017 and 2 April 2026. The firm also failed during the same period to review and update its policies, controls and procedures to mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks effectively.
The firm admitted breaches of the SRA Principles 2011, the SRA Code of Conduct 2011, the SRA Principles 2019 and the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms. The SRA said the failings showed a disregard for statutory and regulatory obligations and had the potential to cause harm by leaving the firm susceptible to money laundering or terrorist financing.
In mitigation, the SRA said the firm had taken steps to rectify the failings, cooperated with its AML supervision and investigation teams, and admitted the breaches at the earliest opportunity.
The regulator said MTG Solicitors had since confirmed it had put measures in place to ensure continuing and future compliance. These included creating a compliant firm-wide risk assessment, a proliferation financing risk assessment and compliant policies, controls and procedures, and registering its money laundering reporting officer and money laundering compliance officer role holders with the SRA.
The SRA said it was satisfied that the firm is now compliant with the 2017 regulations.
In setting the penalty, the SRA assessed the nature of the conduct as more serious, noting that the firm only became compliant because of the AML desk-based review and guidance provided by the regulator. It said the breach arose from recklessness and a failure to pay sufficient regard to money laundering regulations, published guidance and SRA warning notices.
The regulator assessed the harm or risk of harm as low, noting there was no evidence of direct client loss or actual harm. However, it said conveyancing was considered high-risk because of the risk of abuse by criminals, and around a fifth of the firm’s work fell within the scope of the 2017 regulations, mainly through conveyancing.
The SRA calculated a basic penalty of £24,744, which it reduced to £21,033 to reflect mitigation. It said the firm did not appear to have made any financial gain or received any other benefit from the conduct.