The grammar of due diligence.
Clear, sourced guides to anti-money laundering, sanctions, screening and the UK public record. Written from the regulations and registers themselves — every factual claim links to where it comes from.
From first principles to expert judgement.
Four levels, built to be read in order. Start at Foundation and climb — each level assumes the one below it, so by the top you are reasoning the way a fincrime practitioner does.
- Foundation8 guides
Start here. The what and why of money laundering and due diligence — no prior knowledge needed.
- What is money laundering? The stages, the law, and why it matters
- Terrorist financing, and how it differs from money laundering
- Proliferation financing, explained
- The risk-based approach to AML, explained
- KYC vs CDD: what's the difference?
- Money mules, explained
- FRAML: the convergence of fraud and AML
- The Money Laundering Regulations 2017, explained
- Intermediate8 guides
The everyday checks: the three screening pillars, sanctions, and reading the company register.
- UK financial sanctions, explained: the complete 2026 guide
- Sanctions vs PEP vs adverse media: the three screening checks
- What is adverse media screening? The complete 2026 guide
- Crypto AML and the Travel Rule, explained
- APP fraud and the mandatory reimbursement regime
- How to read a Companies House record
- Companies House identity verification, explained
- High-value dealers and AML: the €10,000 rule
- Advanced8 guides
Judgement-heavy work: enhanced due diligence, reporting decisions, and tracing real ownership.
- Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and the NCA
- Failure to prevent fraud: the new ECCTA offence, explained
- What is a politically exposed person (PEP)? The complete guide
- Transaction monitoring, explained
- Source of funds vs source of wealth
- AI, deepfakes and synthetic identity fraud
- Beneficial ownership and the PSC register
- UBO verification and the PSC-register trap
- Expert8 guides
Accountability and the hard problems: the MLRO role, false positives, shells and charity risk.
- Trade-based money laundering, explained
- The role of the MLRO (nominated officer)
- The Crime and Policing Act 2026 and senior-manager liability
- The EU AMLA and the Single Rulebook, explained
- False positives and fuzzy matching in name screening
- Sanctions evasion and circumvention, explained
- Shell companies and the red flags to watch for
- Charity due diligence: checking a UK charity
Every guide, by subject.
Foundations
The core concepts of anti-money laundering and due diligence, explained from first principles.
- Foundation
Terrorist financing, and how it differs from money laundering
Terrorist financing and money laundering are tackled by the same AML systems but are not the same crime. The defining difference, the Terrorism Act 2000 offences, why the money can be clean and the amounts small, and what that means for due diligence.
- Foundation
Proliferation financing, explained
Proliferation financing funds the spread of weapons of mass destruction and evades the sanctions meant to stop it. The often-overlooked third pillar of financial crime: what it is, how it works, the FATF expectations, and the red flags.
- Foundation
The risk-based approach to AML, explained
The risk-based approach is the organising principle of modern anti-money laundering: focus effort where the risk is highest. What it means, the risk factors that matter, how a risk assessment works, and why a tick-box approach fails.
- Foundation
KYC vs CDD: what's the difference?
Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) are used interchangeably but are not the same thing. A plain-English guide to how they relate, the three tiers of CDD, what each requires under UK rules, and where KYB fits.
- Foundation
Money mules, explained
Money mules are people who move criminal funds through their accounts — wittingly or not. How mule networks work, why they are central to laundering and fraud, the recruitment tactics, the red flags, and the legal consequences.
- Foundation
FRAML: the convergence of fraud and AML
Fraud and anti-money-laundering teams have traditionally worked apart, but the same criminals, accounts and data link them. FRAML is the structural merging of the two. What it is, why it is happening now, and what it changes.
- Expert
Trade-based money laundering, explained
Trade-based money laundering disguises illicit value as legitimate trade. How over- and under-invoicing, phantom shipments and multiple invoicing work, the red flags, why it is so hard to detect, and what due diligence can do.
The UK regime
How the Money Laundering Regulations, sanctions law, and UK registers actually work in practice.
- Foundation
The Money Laundering Regulations 2017, explained
What the UK's Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require: who they apply to, the risk-based approach, when customer due diligence is triggered, the occasional-transaction thresholds, the three CDD tiers, and the duties around risk assessment, records and reporting.
- Intermediate
UK financial sanctions, explained: the complete 2026 guide
How UK financial sanctions work: SAMLA 2018, the single UK Sanctions List that replaced the OFSI Consolidated List in January 2026, what an asset freeze means, ownership and control, strict-liability penalties, and how screening works in practice.
- Advanced
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and the NCA
What a Suspicious Activity Report is, who must file one, how the Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) consent regime works — the 7-working-day notice period and 31-day moratorium — and the tipping-off offence, sourced from POCA 2002.
- Expert
The role of the MLRO (nominated officer)
Every regulated firm needs a nominated officer — usually called the MLRO. What the role is, what the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require, the difference between the nominated officer and the MLR-compliance officer, the SAR decision, and why it carries personal responsibility.
- Advanced
Failure to prevent fraud: the new ECCTA offence, explained
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act created a new corporate offence of failing to prevent fraud, in force since 1 September 2025. Who it applies to, the reasonable-procedures defence, the six principles, and what it means for compliance.
- Expert
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 and senior-manager liability
A major expansion of UK corporate criminal liability: how the senior-manager attribution rule makes companies criminally liable for offences committed by their senior managers, when it takes effect, and what it means for governance and compliance.
- Expert
The EU AMLA and the Single Rulebook, explained
The EU has created a central Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) and a harmonised Single Rulebook. What AMLA is, when it starts direct supervision, how the new AML Regulation works, and why it matters even for UK firms.
Screening & checks
Sanctions, PEP, and adverse-media screening — what the lists are, and how a check is run.
- Intermediate
Sanctions vs PEP vs adverse media: the three screening checks
Name screening has three pillars — sanctions, PEPs and adverse media — and they are not interchangeable. What each one is, the very different consequences of a hit, how they interact, and why a good screen runs all three together.
- Intermediate
What is adverse media screening? The complete 2026 guide
Adverse media (negative news) screening checks a person or company against credible negative information in the public domain. The definitive guide: what counts, why the MLRs require it, the categories, the workflow, false positives, recency and how to do it defensibly.
- Advanced
What is a politically exposed person (PEP)? The complete guide
Who counts as a PEP under UK rules, domestic vs foreign PEPs, why family members and close associates are included, what enhanced due diligence requires, how long PEP status lasts, and why blanket de-risking is the wrong response — based on FCA guidance and MLR 2017.
- Advanced
Transaction monitoring, explained
Transaction monitoring is how firms detect suspicious activity after onboarding. What it is, rule-based vs behavioural detection, common red-flag patterns, the alert-to-SAR workflow, the false-positive problem, and how it fits the wider AML system.
- Expert
False positives and fuzzy matching in name screening
Why name screening throws up so many false matches, how fuzzy matching works, why transliteration and common names make it hard, what good disambiguation looks like, and the real cost of getting precision wrong.
- Advanced
Source of funds vs source of wealth
Two terms that sound alike but mean different things in due diligence. A clear explanation of source of funds and source of wealth, why enhanced due diligence requires both, worked examples, and the single question that ties them together.
- Advanced
AI, deepfakes and synthetic identity fraud
AI has handed criminals powerful new tools to defeat identity checks: deepfake video and voice, synthetic identities, and forged documents. How these attacks work, why traditional KYC struggles, and how to defend against them.
- Intermediate
Crypto AML and the Travel Rule, explained
How anti-money-laundering rules apply to crypto: why crypto firms are regulated, the Travel Rule for transfers, the EU's MiCA regime and its July 2026 deadline, stablecoin scrutiny, and what crypto due diligence involves.
- Intermediate
APP fraud and the mandatory reimbursement regime
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud is when a victim is tricked into sending money to a fraudster. A guide to how it works, the UK's mandatory reimbursement rules, the £85,000 cap, the 50/50 PSP cost split, and how it connects to AML.
- Expert
Sanctions evasion and circumvention, explained
Designating a person is only half the battle — the other half is stopping them dodging it. How sanctions evasion works: front companies, ownership obfuscation, third-country trans-shipment, crypto, and the red flags that expose it.
Companies & charities
Reading the public record on UK companies and charities: filings, ownership, and red flags.
- Intermediate
How to read a Companies House record
A practical guide to the public Companies House register for a UK company — the confirmation statement, annual accounts, directors, the PSC register and filing history — how to read it like a detective, and what it does not tell you.
- Intermediate
Companies House identity verification, explained
Companies House is being transformed from a passive filing library into a verified register. The new identity-verification regime under ECCTA: who must verify, the ACSP route, the autumn 2026 deadline, and what it means for due diligence.
- Advanced
Beneficial ownership and the PSC register
Who really owns a UK company? A guide to beneficial ownership, the people with significant control (PSC) register, the 25% threshold, the four PSC conditions, the move to verified identities under ECCTA 2023, and why ownership transparency is central to due diligence.
- Advanced
UBO verification and the PSC-register trap
Identifying the ultimate beneficial owner is one thing; verifying it is another. Why you cannot rely on the PSC register alone, what proper UBO verification involves, the layered-ownership challenge, and how it differs from the PSC regime.
- Expert
Shell companies and the red flags to watch for
Not every shell company is sinister, but shells are a favourite tool of launderers and sanctions evaders. What a shell company is, its legitimate and illegitimate uses, the red flags that warrant a closer look, and how to investigate one.
- Intermediate
High-value dealers and AML: the €10,000 rule
Dealers in high-value goods — from cars and jewellery to art and gold — fall inside the AML regime once they handle large cash payments. Who counts, the €10,000 threshold, HMRC registration, sanctions screening, and the obligations that follow.
- Expert
Charity due diligence: checking a UK charity
How to run due diligence on a registered charity in England and Wales using the Charity Commission register — trustees, finances, the annual return, the red flags that matter, and why charities carry distinct abuse risks.
Put it to work on a real name.
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