HM Treasury, | Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ BO September 2017 The Rt Hon Lord Hain of Neath House of Lords London SW1A OPW Ne bler Thank you for your letter bringing this important issue to my attention. | have referred your letter to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and relevant UK law enforcement agencies, including the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO). My officials have also been in touch with the UK High Commission in South Africa The Government takes allegations of corruption and money laundering extremely seriously and is committed to preventing the proceeds of corruption from entering the UK financial system. If you have any additional information relating to these allegations, please do pass this on to my officials The Government has taken significant steps to address corruption domestically and to encourage international action to fight corruption, economic crime and tax evasion. We have strengthened our legislative framework through the Bribery Act, the new Criminal Finances Act and the revised Money Laundering regulations. We have also established a public register of beneficial ownership information. The Government recognises that tackling corruption requires collective international action by governments, business, and civil society. In 2016, we hosted the world’s first leaders’ summit to galvanise a truly global response to corruption. In 2018, London will be host to the Commonwealth Summit, a further opportunity to build a shared international commitment to tackling corruption. We will continue to work closely with international partners to disrupt the flow of illicit finance ~ including working with Hong Kong and UAE to implement their Anti-Corruption Summit commitments to create public-private financial intelligence sharing partnerships. In line with the international standards on anti-money laundering, measures have been put in place to ensure that banks are aware of the risks posed by customers who by virtue of their public positions, or their relationships with those in positions of power, may be exposed to corruption. The UK has introduced regulations mandating that financial institutions must take particular precautions when dealing with these so-called “politically exposed persons” (PEPs). Furthermore, the FCA has recently published guidance on how firms should identify and treat PEPs,The UK requires banks to take a risk based approach to preventing illicit financial flows and the private sector provides tools to help them risk rate customers (for example services like Thomson Reuters’ World Check). We would expect financial institutions to take account of these types of services when deciding whether or not to do business with a customer that could be connected to a foreign government. We would also expect them to screen transactions in order to spot suspicious activity that might bear the hallmarks of corruption. Thank you again for bringing this issue to my attention. PHILIP HAMMOND.