FCA Obliges Crypto Firms to Submit Financial Crime Report

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, has published a policy statement to include cryptoasset businesses into a list of financial services firms that have become obliged to submit the annual financial crime report (REP-CRIM) to the FCA.

The FCA​ said in the statement that it is increasing the number of firms that need to submit a REP-CRIM return from approximately 2,500 to approximately 7,000 firms. The regulator based its assessment of which firms this extension will apply on its understanding of the potential money laundering risks.

​The REP-CRIM obligation aggregates information that assists the FCA in monitoring trends in financial crime. It has been applied only to larger firms since 2016.

"REP-CRIM provides us information on a range of indicators that reflect the potential money laundering risks of firms' based on their regulated activity and helps us to supervise firms. In our 2020/21 Business Plan, we said we would consider extending the REP-CRIM reporting obligation to more firms," the regulator added.