Introducing RegBench, our benchmark for regulatory reasoning. First results publish soon.Learn more

The words, defined plainly.

The terms compliance teams use every week, each tied to the rules that use them and to where it shows up in Amoreg.

AML/CFTAnti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: the controls a firm runs so it is not used to move criminal or terrorist money.
Audit trailThe record of who did what, when and on what basis, kept so the work can be reconstructed and checked later.
Beneficial ownerThe natural person who ultimately owns or controls a customer, or on whose behalf a transaction is carried out.
Business risk assessmentThe firm’s own documented view of the money-laundering and other financial-crime risks it faces, approved by its board.
Compliance monitoring programmeThe scheduled testing a compliance function runs to check that the firm’s policies are being followed in practice.
Consultation paperA regulator’s published proposal for new or changed rules, with a deadline for firms and others to respond.
Customer due diligenceIdentifying a customer and the people who own or control it, verifying who they are, and understanding the purpose of the relationship.
Dear CEO letterA letter from a regulator to the chief executives of a sector, setting out its concerns and what it expects firms to do about them.
Enhanced due diligenceThe additional checks applied to higher-risk relationships, such as politically exposed persons or high-risk countries.
Fit and properThe test a regulator applies to the people who run or control a regulated firm: their honesty, competence and financial soundness.
FrameworkIn Amoreg, the firm’s own way of organising itself to answer to one or more regimes, with its documents filed beneath it.
MLROThe money laundering reporting officer: the person who receives internal reports of suspicion and decides whether to report to the financial intelligence unit.
On-site inspectionA supervisor’s visit to a firm to test its controls, interview its people and examine its records.
Operational resilienceA firm’s ability to keep delivering its important services through disruption, within limits it has set and tested.
OutsourcingRelying on a third party to carry out an activity the firm would otherwise do itself, while keeping regulatory responsibility for it.
Policy gap analysisReading a firm’s policies against the rules that apply to it, and recording each requirement the policies do not meet.
Politically exposed personSomeone entrusted with a prominent public function, or a close family member or associate of one, treated as higher risk for corruption.
RegimeIn Amoreg, a rulebook that binds a firm: a law, a handbook, a code or a standard, with its issuer, its jurisdiction and its edition.
Regulatory change managementThe work of noticing what a regulator has published, deciding whether it applies, and carrying it through to changed policies and evidence.
Sanctions screeningChecking customers, owners and payments against sanctions lists, and repeating the check whenever the lists change.
Source of wealth and source of fundsWhere a customer’s overall wealth came from, and where the money in a particular transaction or relationship came from.
Suspicious activity reportA report to the national financial intelligence unit when a firm knows or suspects that money is linked to crime or terrorism.
Thematic reviewA supervisor’s review of one topic across many firms in a sector, published as findings and expectations.

Regulations Jurisdictions Regulators Glossary