John Binns, a partner at BCL Solicitors, argues that conventional anti-money-laundering controls can focus too heavily on rejecting suspicious transactions rather than helping authorities investigate financial crime. Under this “hygiene” model, institutions prioritize due diligence, monitoring and suspicious activity reports (SARs). However, refusing transactions can push funds toward less-regulated jurisdictions, while financial intelligence units struggle to investigate the large volume of reports they receive.
Binns identifies a structural imbalance between the resources financial institutions devote to compliance and the capacity of law enforcement to turn reported information into investigations. Fear of criminal liability can encourage defensive reporting and risk avoidance, potentially disrupting legitimate business without stopping sophisticated criminals from moving their money. He draws parallels with sanctions, where restrictions can displace transactions into jurisdictions beyond effective enforcement reach.
His proposed alternative is a “hunter” approach, focused on tracing criminal proceeds, identifying offenders and recovering assets. Under his suggested reforms, certain transactions involving suspected criminal property could receive prompt or automatic consent when reporting helps bring or keep the assets within law enforcement’s reach.
Transactions that risk moving assets beyond that reach would remain blocked. He also proposes covertly tagging identified criminal property so regulated institutions could restrict its movement without alerting suspects. These are proposals for reform, not current UK legal requirements.
The article challenges AML teams to look beyond operational metrics such as alerts generated, SARs filed and transactions blocked. A hunter-oriented model would emphasize actionable intelligence, connected-entity analysis, tracing funds across jurisdictions and measurable asset-recovery outcomes. The central question for AML/KYC transformation is whether controls merely identify and report suspicious activity or help authorities disrupt criminal networks and recover their proceeds, while preserving appropriate safeguards for legitimate customers.
(Summary shared above. To read full report, go to: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice-points/a-shift-in-strategy-from-hygiene-to-hunter/5127953.article?utm_source=gazette_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Firms+set+to+fail+without+interest+income+-+survey+%7c+Client+to+pay+solicitor+damages+for+defamatory+review+%7c+New+podcast+episode_09%2f23%2f2026)
