The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) has released its 2024/25 supervisory report, highlighting meaningful progress by the 25 Professional Body Supervisors (PBSs) overseeing over 41,400 legal and accountancy firms.
While baseline compliance is stronger than at any point since OPBAS was established in 2018, significant gaps remain in enforcement and supervision. The report coincides with the Government’s decision that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will assume AML/CTF supervision of the accountancy and legal sectors from 2026, creating a single, more consistent supervisory framework.
This shift aims to align oversight more closely with financial services regulatory standards and deliver greater consistency across the sectors. Key focus areas from the report include robust enforcement, effective management information, timely risk reviews and proactive intelligence sharing.
Key Developments
Stronger Governance and Risk-Based Approaches:
Most PBSs demonstrated effective or largely effective governance, supported by competent specialist staff and clearer separation of supervisory and membership functions. Greater use of data and intelligence has improved risk profiling across supervised populations.
The report also notes that some PBSs are exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to identify emerging risks, including those linked to crypto-related money laundering. However, OPBAS emphasises that such tools must be robustly tested and should not be relied upon without appropriate governance and oversight.
Supervision and Enforcement Delays:
Supervision and enforcement ratings were the weakest areas across the six PBSs assessed. Enforcement lacks sufficient deterrent impact in many cases, despite recurring breaches reported by PBSs themselves.
Notably, OPBAS issued its first-ever public censure in December 2025 against the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers for failing to meet the enforcement standards expected under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs).
Improved Collaboration and Intelligence Sharing:
The OPDAS report also noted that domestic and international cooperation has advanced through MoUs, Intelligence Sharing Expert Working Groups. and the Professional Enablers Strategy.
Regulatory Implications and Compliance Lessons
The report sends several clear messages to professional body supervisors and supervised firms:
- Strengthen enforcement to create real deterrence;
- Improve management information and use it to challenge AML performance at board level;
- Separate supervisory and membership functions more clearly to avoid conflicts;
- Leverage technology responsibly while maintaining auditability; and
- Prepare for the FCA transition by aligning policies and processes now.
With over £155 billion combined GDP contribution from accountancy and legal services, weak AML supervision exposes the UK economy to serious harm. The shift to FCA oversight in 2026 represents an opportunity to raise standards, but only if PBSs act decisively on the areas identified.
How Complyport Can Help
Complyport provides tailored support to supervised firms to strengthen their AML/CTF/CPF frameworks. Our services include:
- AML/CTF/CPF Risk Assessments and Gap Analyses;
- Enforcement and Supervision Policy Reviews;
- Staff Training on MLRs, OPBAS Sourcebook and FCA Expectations; and
- Regulatory Guidance and Compliance Advisory Support.
Book a Meeting with a Complyport SME
To ensure your organisation is ready for the FCA-led AML regime and addresses OPBAS findings, book a consultation with a Complyport Subject Matter Expert today.
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OPBAS 2024/25 report: AML supervisors improving but enforcement still lags. FCA takes over in 2026.
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