UK and Jersey AML Requirements for Company Secretaries

The red flags are usually subtle at first. A new client with a complex ownership chain that no one quite understands, a request to structure a transaction through an unfamiliar jurisdiction, a shareholder who hesitates when asked for source of funds information. For company secretaries in the UK and Jersey, these are not just awkward conversations, they are potential indicators of money laundering risk.

In both jurisdictions, AML obligations for company secretaries sit at the intersection of governance, regulation, and day-to-day administration. Secretaries are often the people who understand how information flows through the organisation, how entities are structured, and where controls are weak. That makes their role in AML compliance for companies central rather than peripheral.

As Jerri-Lea Brown, Founder of Sage Governance, notes, “Company secretaries are no longer just record keepers. They are gatekeepers. When it comes to financial crime, weak governance is often the first point of failure.”

This article explores what AML means for company secretaries, how UK money laundering regulations interact with Jersey anti-money laundering laws, and the practical steps secretaries can take to build an effective AML compliance framework.

What AML Means for Company Secretaries

Anti-money laundering frameworks set out how organisations must prevent, detect, and report financial crime. This translates into a set of concrete AML obligations for company secretaries that must be integrated into everyday governance work, not handled as a bolt-on exercise.

In practice, this includes:

• Making sure the board understands its corporate compliance duties around financial crime

• Helping design and oversee AML internal controls that are proportionate to the organisation’s risks

• Ensuring there is a clear AML compliance framework, with policies approved, reviewed and properly implemented

• Supporting AML risk assessment work at both firm and client level, especially where new products, jurisdictions or structures are involved

• Keeping the governance lens aligned with AML regulatory requirements, so that board minutes, registers and filings all reflect reality

For Jersey entities, there is an additional dimension. Many company secretaries operate for regulated entities Jersey-wide, often as nominated persons who deal directly with the Jersey Financial Services Commission. Jersey’s sound business practice policy and wider Jersey financial crime laws mean governance professionals must be particularly alert to the risk of structures that could be used to conceal beneficial ownership or move illicit funds.

In both the UK and Jersey, AML governance standards increasingly expect company secretaries to understand how financial crime risks intersect with legal structures, shareholder registers, and board decision-making.

UK Money Laundering Regulations Explained

Anti-money laundering obligations for UK and Jersey company secretaries are extensive. They require secretaries to support customer due diligence, maintain records, oversee risk assessments, and ensure suspicious activity can be reported quickly. While the core expectations are similar, UK AML obligations sit within the Money Laundering Regulations and Proceeds of Crime Act, with supervisors such as HMRC, the FCA, or professional bodies enforcing compliance.

The core UK money laundering regulations are the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. These rules, together with the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, set out how firms in the regulated sector must manage money laundering risks. 

For company secretaries involved in trust or company service provider work, UK AML obligations typically include:

• Carrying out a documented AML risk assessment at firm level and for higher-risk relationships

• Implementing an AML compliance framework that covers client onboarding, ongoing monitoring and event-driven reviews

• Ensuring AML reporting obligations are met, including internal escalation and filing suspicious activity reports SARs with the National Crime Agency

• Meeting AML record-keeping requirements, usually for at least five years after a relationship or transaction ends

• Confirming that sanctions screening requirements are built into onboarding and periodic reviews

• Supporting AML training for staff, so directors, administrators and client-facing teams understand their responsibilities

A summary description from the Law Society captures the expectation: “Firms must take a risk-based approach, documenting how they identify and mitigate their exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing risk.”

For company secretaries, this often means ensuring that governance structures, board reporting, and policy reviews keep pace with UK money laundering regulations rather than leaving AML to sit solely within compliance or legal teams.

Jersey’s AML Laws and Requirements

Jersey has its own AML regime, which is distinct from the UK, though aligned with international standards. Jersey anti-money laundering laws are built around the Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999 and the Money Laundering (Jersey) Order 2008, supported by detailed JFSC handbooks and codes of practice.

The Money Laundering (Jersey) Order 2008 sets out when businesses must register with the Jersey Financial Services Commission as Schedule 2 businesses and what they must do to control financial crime risks. 

For regulated entities Jersey-wide, typical expectations include:

• Conducting firm-wide and customer-specific AML risk assessment work

• Establishing AML internal controls that reflect Jersey financial crime laws and JFSC guidance

• Appointing both a Money Laundering Reporting Officer and a Money Laundering Compliance Officer, who are responsible for AML oversight responsibilities and cannot usually be outsourced

• Implementing AML record-keeping requirements that allow JFSC examiners to trace decisions and risk assessments

• Following a sound business practice policy, particularly around complex structures, high-risk sectors and cross-border flows

Jersey’s structure places AML supervision firmly with the JFSC, separate from conduct or prudential supervision. That separation is designed to sharpen the focus on proceeds of crime and makes Jersey anti-money laundering laws particularly relevant for company secretaries acting as nominated persons or designated service providers.

As one commentator from a leading offshore firm observes, Jersey “expects boards and service providers to be actively engaged in financial crime risk management, not simply relying on policies that sit on a shelf.” That expectation puts governance professionals at the centre of compliance monitoring procedures and board oversight.

Key AML Responsibilities for Businesses

Across both jurisdictions, key AML responsibilities for businesses follow similar principles, even though the rules and regulators differ. For company secretaries, understanding these common elements is crucial.

At a high level, AML compliance for companies usually requires:

• A documented AML risk assessment that covers products, clients, delivery channels and geographies

• Clear policies for Customer due diligence CDD and, where appropriate, Enhanced due diligence EDD

• Defined AML internal controls, such as approval thresholds, dual sign-off and exception reporting

• An AML compliance framework that links risk assessment, policies, controls and reporting into a coherent whole

• Governance arrangements that allocate AML oversight responsibilities at board and executive level

For many firms, these responsibilities sit within wider financial services compliance obligations. However, company secretaries are often the ones who maintain statutory registers, oversee board reporting, and coordinate with UK and Jersey regulatory bodies. That gives them unique visibility into beneficial ownership, group structures, and changes in control, all of which are critical for an effective AML risk assessment.

Jerri-Lea Brown highlights this point: “An AML programme only truly works when it is joined up. Company secretaries can see across entities, registers, and decision-making processes, which makes them central to coordinating AML controls.”

In practical terms, good AML governance standards require boards to treat financial crime risk as part of corporate strategy and risk management, rather than as a specialist topic delegated entirely to compliance teams.

Required AML Checks and Verification Steps

The most visible part of AML for many professionals is the set of anti-money laundering checks performed on clients, investors, beneficial owners, and counterparties. These include both standard and enhanced AML checks and must follow the regulatory expectations in each jurisdiction.

Core AML checks and verification steps typically include:

• Customer Due Diligence CDD on all relevant clients and entities

• Beneficial ownership checks to identify individuals with significant control or influence

• Money laundering checks on higher-risk counterparties or transactions

• Applying Enhanced Due Diligence EDD where risks are higher, for example, politically exposed persons or high-risk jurisdictions

• Building sanctions screening requirements into onboarding and ongoing monitoring

• Documenting the outcome of these anti-money laundering checks in a way that meets AML record-keeping requirements

In Jersey, the Money Laundering (Jersey) Order 2008 and JFSC handbooks set out when simplified, standard, or enhanced checks are required and how long records must be kept.

For company secretaries, the challenge is often ensuring that these money laundering checks are properly connected to governance processes. That might mean confirming that shareholder registers reflect the results of beneficial ownership checks, or that information in board packs aligns with what has been recorded in CDD files.

Where organisations operate across both jurisdictions, secretaries also play a role in ensuring that anti-money laundering checks meet the higher of UK and Jersey standards rather than defaulting to the more convenient approach.

How Company Secretaries Ensure Compliance

So how can company secretaries in the UK and Jersey turn these AML obligations into day-to-day practice that actually works?

First, they can help design and maintain AML internal controls that fit the organisation’s complexity. This might include:

• Ensuring there are clear compliance monitoring procedures that test CDD quality, record-keeping and escalation

• Confirming that AML reporting obligations are understood, including how suspicious activity reports SARs are raised internally and filed with the appropriate agency

• Making sure AML training for staff reaches directors, administrators and anyone involved in client onboarding or payments

• Keeping an eye on AML governance standards at board level, for example ensuring that AML risk is a standing agenda item in relevant committees

• Checking that documentation aligns with the AML compliance framework, so that policies, procedures and registers tell the same story

Second, secretaries can act as a bridge between AML specialists and the board. They can help ensure that AML risk assessment findings are discussed, that remediation actions are tracked and that corporate compliance duties are not overlooked when the business moves into new markets or products.

For many organisations, especially those without large in-house legal and compliance teams, partnering with an external governance specialist can make this work more manageable. Sage Governance supports clients by combining corporate governance expertise with outsourced secretarial support, helping boards to embed AML oversight responsibilities into their broader governance structures without losing sight of day-to-day operational realities.

Ultimately, the role of the company secretary in AML is not just to manage paperwork, it is to help create a culture where financial crime risks are understood, challenged, and controlled.

FAQs

Are all company secretaries subject to AML regulations in the UK and Jersey?

Not every company secretary is directly regulated, but those involved in trust or company service provider work, or serving regulated entities Jersey-wide, are usually within scope. Even where they are not directly supervised, secretaries still support AML compliance for companies through governance and oversight.

How often should AML risk assessments be updated in practice?

AML risk assessment work should be treated as an ongoing process rather than a one-off exercise. Most regulators expect formal review at least annually, and whenever there are material changes in products, clients, geography or ownership structures.

How can Sage Governance help with AML-related governance work?

Sage Governance supports boards and management teams by providing corporate governance and outsourced secretarial support that incorporates AML oversight. This includes helping to align registers, board processes and filings with AML regulatory requirements, so organisations meet their obligations in both the UK and Jersey.