Business areas

What business area does my business fall into?

From 15 December 2007, we supervise four business areas or sectors under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007:

If you already know what sector your business falls within we recommend you use the links above to the ‘home pages’ for each business area.

If you are not sure if your business will be affected by the regulations we have provided some examples of the types of businesses in each sector on these home pages. If you are not listed you should check the more detailed definitions in MLR 9 Registration Notice (PDF 204K) to see if you need to register with us.

Money Service Businesses (MSBs)

These are bureaux de change, money transmitters and third party cheque cashers.

High Value Dealers (HVDs)

These are businesses prepared to accept high value payments of at least €15,000 (or equivalent in any currency) in cash for goods, either in a single transaction or in several instalments.

For an indication of the £ sterling equivalent of €15,000 we recommend you check our Rates of Exchange for Customs and Vat purposes and divide 15,000 by the euro figure stated.

Businesses that could be a high value dealer include:

  • jewellers
  • auctioneers
  • car dealers
  • antique dealers

Trust or Company Service Providers (TCSPs)

You will need to register with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) if your business is not supervised by the FSA or a designated professional body (such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales or the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) for these services. You can find a list of bodies in our MLR 9 Registration Notice (PDF 204K) appendix 1.

Businesses that could be TCSPs include:

  • Company Formation Agents
  • providers of registered offices, business addresses, accommodation or correspondence addresses for businesses other than sole proprietors
  • any individual or firm providing nominee director, nominee company secretary or nominee shareholder services or other similar services designed to ensure the confidentiality of the true ownership or control of a company or corporate body, or to act in these roles on behalf of another person or firm
  • any individual or firm arranging for another person to act as a director, company secretary, partner or professional trustee
  • any individual or firm offering professional trustee services, unless they relate to certain low risk trusts
  • any individual or firm providing their services as nominee shareholder (unless they are acting for a company whose securities are listed on a regulated market)
  • any firm providing their services as a company director, company secretary, or partner to another firm unless the client firm is a member of the same group as the firm providing the service
  • any individual providing their service:

    • as nominee director or nominee company secretary
    • as company director, company secretary or partner to a firm carrying out business in the following high risk areas:

      • within a high risk jurisdiction
      • within a high risk sector

    Unless the firm is:

    • already supervised under the MLRs
    • a public authority
    • a firm authorised by a public authority to act on their behalf where the only customers are also public authorities

Although we have given you some examples of businesses affected we recommend you check our MLR 9 Registration Notice (PDF 1MB) to see if you need to register and apply anti-money laundering controls to your business. Detailed explanations of the terms used above such as arranging, high risk sectors and jurisdictions and low risk trusts, can also be found in MLR 9.

Accountancy Service Providers (ASPs)

You will need to register with HMRC if your business is not supervised by a designated professional body (such as the institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales or the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers). You can find a list of bodies in our MLR 9 Registration Notice (PDF 1MB) appendix 1.

Businesses that could be ASPs include:

  • accountants
  • auditors
  • tax advisers
  • bookkeepers
  • payroll agents
  • tax consultants
  • customs practitioners
  • interim managers undertaking any of the activities of the businesses listed above