More than 20,000 UK estate agency branches have registered with HMRC for money laundering supervision – an increase of around 3,000 branches in 18 months, according to new analysis from risk management platform Thirdfort.
Some 20,059 UK branches across the country have registered with HMRC, the anti-money laundering supervisor for the estate agency sector, according to the latest data available from HMRC.
Analysis from Thirdfort, which combines Know Your Client (KYC), Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Source of Funds (SoF) verification, shows this is an increase of 3,329 in just under 18 months, up from 16,730 in December 2021.
Despite the overall increase, around 4,000 branches still need to register or complete renewal with HMRC. Some of these branches will be in the process of renewing and therefore not recorded in HMRC’s online figures, which only records branches once they have been approved[i].
Despite this, compared to the 24,500 estate agents in the UK, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics, this number means around 18% of branches are unregistered or are yet to complete renewal.
Nevertheless, in December 2021, some 25% of agents had yet to registered, so this represents a further improvement.
Olly Thornton-Berry, co-founder and Managing Director of Thirdfort, said:
“Money laundering is a serious and growing risk in the property sector. It costs the UK more than £100bn annually. As a result, HMRC and other regulators are stepping up their oversight. So, to avoid fines, reputational damage or even an outright ban, we would encourage all estate agents to register for money laundering supervision with HMRC.
Once registered, agents do not need to worry about spending days or weeks complying with the regulations. Tools such as ours make it quick and easy to satisfy AML verification and means compliance becomes a competitive advantage.”
Using AI, biometric verification and Open Banking, Thirdfort’s web and mobile app automates KYC, AML and Source of Funds verification. It has transformed a cumbersome process that has historically taken weeks into one that takes just minutes.
Thirdfort has verified more than 1m people on behalf of more than 1,000 conveyancers, lawyers, estate agents and other regulated professional services firms. This accounts for around 2.5% of all adult smartphone users in the UK.
This article was submitted to be published by Thirdfort as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
