Risk Seminar with SmartSearch & BWB

Risk Seminar BWB

Venue - Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP - 2-6 Cannon Street - London - EC4M 6YH

Date / Time - 26th November 2013 - 8am till 12pm

Speakers - Martin Cheek & Peter Bennett

Anti-Money Laundering & Fraud Prevention specialists SmartSearch and Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP will be hosting a join seminar on Risk on the 26^th November. This informative morning session will look at the challenges of a risk based approach for anti-money laundering in the current and future market as well as looking at rick based compliance and the importance this plays in the role of law firm managers.

Book you place by contacting Karen Collins at Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP on

k.collins@bwbllp.com or call +44 (0)20 7551 7639

Martin Cheek LL.B(Hons) MBA – SmartSearch Managing Director

Challenges of a Risk Based Approach for Anti-Money Laundering Now and In the Future

Since the Proceeds of Crime Act and Money Laundering Legislation were introduced in early 2004, many legal professionals have struggled to ensure that their firms have had adequate system and procedures in place. Martin discusses the challenges faced by firms and their differing approaches for compliance with the Regulations, and how some firms are not doing enough whilst other firms are taking a “belt and braces” approach resulting in addition time, effort and costs in complying.

The Current Regulations, POCA, ML Regulations 2007, The Law Society, SRA and CML and the confusion this causes for the Legal Profession. What firms are doing in the following areas:-

• Risk Based Process

• Client Take On

• Private Client, Trusts, International and Corporate Clients

• KYC verses CDD, Beneficial Owners

• Sanction and PEP Screening

• Issues of Professional Privileges & SARs Reporting

• Mortgage Fraud V’s Anti-Money Laundering, are they two sides of the same coin

• Confusion CML, Law Society & SRA, what this means for the Conveyancing Sector

• Electronic Verification V’s Documents Pros and Cons, What are the key advantages and drawbacks?

• Changes with the 4^th Money Laundering Directive

• New Industries, Areas to be Regulated

• Changes to Existing Regulations

• Summary & Questions

About Martin Cheek:

Martin has been at the forefront of Anti-money Laundering (AML) Regulation and the development of electronic solutions to automate AML Compliance since the first Regulations in 2004.   As a qualified lawyer he has a detailed understanding of the overriding regulations and the way they are interpreted by the various Regulatory Bodies.

Martin was instrumental in developing one of the earliest electronic verification systems in 2004, as the Lead Executive he set up Callcredit Direct to deliver this early electronic AML verification service.   By 2008 the business had over 3000 clients in the Legal, Accounting and Financial Services Sectors.   The award winning technology included Legal Technology Awards 2009 “Online Product of the Year”.

Subsequently Martin joined SmartCredit as Managing Director and became a Data Partner of Experian building a new Anti-money Laundering Verification System known as SmartSearch.  Using the very latest technology and the best available reference data this system uniquely delivers both Individual and Business AML verification all in one platform.  This new platform has over 500 Client Firms and over 2,000 Users; SmartSearch has won two awards this year before it is formally launched in June.

Peter Bennett of Bates Wells and Braithwaite

 Risk Based Compliance – Why it should be the law firm managers best friend.

This seminar will explore the latest approaches to risk management and include the experience of Bates Wells and Braithwaite who introduced matter level risk management in 2006 which now extends over wide areas of the practice. It had an immediate, dramatic and continuing impact on PI claims and PI premiums which have reduced by 75%. Bates Wells and Braithwaite have a headcount of 180 and provide a full service commercial offering to a wide range of commercial, public benefit and charity organisations as well as an employment and immigration service for individuals.

• How the best risk based systems are improving:

• Client satisfaction

• Claims and complaint reduction

• Lower PI premiums

• Multiple defences on AML

• Reputational risk management

• Reducing bureaucracy