On 17 September 2026, the FCA's Steve Smart told the Law Society Economic Crime Conference that from the back end of 2028 the regulator will begin taking over anti-money laundering supervision of around 60,000 legal and accounting firms (FCA, 2026). This follows HM Treasury's October 2025 decision to consolidate professional-services AML supervision under a single regulator (ICAEW, 2026).
I work as an AML Analyst in an accountancy firm, so this one lands close to home.
What Happened
Today, accountancy and legal firms are supervised for AML by professional body supervisors such as ICAEW. That is changing. The FCA says its approach will be risk-based and intelligence-led, focused on whether a firm's core AML controls actually work for the risks it presents — and that it wants to avoid burying firms in requests and paperwork (FCA, 2026).
Why It Matters
The rulebook isn't the main shift. Firms are already bound by the Money Laundering Regulations, which received 15 targeted amendments from 30 June 2026 (ICAEW, 2026). The shift is the supervisor. The FCA brings data, technology and enforcement appetite, and says it will combine its own intelligence with information from partners to identify high-risk firms earlier (FCA, 2026).
Put simply: firms that are doing the right thing are not the target. Firms that can't prove they are doing the right thing may find that distinction harder to draw.
My Take: Three Things to Start Now, Not in 2028
1. Evidence, not just activity. A completed CDD form isn't proof that a control works. Firms should be able to show why a client was risk-rated the way they were, and what was done about it.
2. Treat the firm-wide risk assessment as a living document. If yours hasn't changed since the June 2026 amendments, that's a signal worth acting on.
3. Prepare for data-driven supervision. If the regulator is using technology to find risk, firms should be using it to manage risk — with proper governance around any AI or screening tools they adopt, including supplier due diligence.
Two years sounds like a long runway. For firms that treat compliance as box-ticking, it isn't.
Technical Terms & Acronyms
AML — Anti-Money Laundering
CDD — Customer Due Diligence
FCA — Financial Conduct Authority
MLRs — Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 (as amended)
Sources
- FCA (2026) — Financial crime: protecting the hive (Steve Smart speech)
- ICAEW (2026) — All AML news: AML supervision reform and MLR amendments
Views are my own and do not represent my employer.