In the United Kingdom, compliance management software is judged against a specific rulebook: the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017, the FCA Handbook (notably SYSC and the Financial Crime Guide), and the sanctions regime administered by OFSI under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. A platform that models these obligations natively saves UK compliance teams the work of retro-fitting a generic system.
The practical difference for UK buyers is data and divergence. UK KYB starts at Companies House and the PSC register; UK sanctions screening must use the UK Sanctions List, which no longer mirrors the EU consolidated list. Software that treats the UK as an EU sub-region will produce both false negatives and unnecessary alerts.
The UK obligations your software has to carry
- MLR 2017 — risk assessment, customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence for high-risk third countries and PEPs, and record retention for five years.
- FCA SYSC 6.3 and the Financial Crime Guide — systems and controls proportionate to the firm's financial crime risk.
- UK sanctions — screening against the UK Sanctions List maintained by OFSI, plus reporting of frozen assets.
- POCA 2002 — suspicious activity reports submitted to the NCA, with defence against money laundering (DAML) requests tracked to a decision.
- Companies House reforms under ECCTA 2023 — identity verification of directors and PSCs, which is progressively changing the reliability of registry data.
- UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 — lawful basis, retention and subject access handling for the personal data screening generates.
UK data sources that matter
| Check | UK primary source | Why it needs corroboration |
|---|---|---|
| Company existence and officers | Companies House | Filings are self-declared and only lightly verified pre-ECCTA rollout |
| Beneficial ownership | PSC register | Nominee and layered structures frequently under-report |
| Sanctions | UK Sanctions List (OFSI) | Diverges from EU and OFAC lists; all three may be in scope |
| Financial health | Filed accounts, CCJ and insolvency records | Small-company accounts are abridged and lag by months |
| Adverse media | UK and international press | Requires de-duplication and relevance scoring to be usable |
What UK buyers should test in a demo
- Run a real UK limited company through KYB end to end and inspect the UBO chain the platform resolves, including overseas parents.
- Screen a name that appears on the UK list but not the EU list, and confirm the alert fires.
- Ask to see the audit export you would hand an FCA supervisor, not a marketing dashboard.
- Confirm ongoing monitoring is event-driven — a sanctions designation on a Tuesday should alert on Tuesday, not at the next annual review.
- Check UK data residency and sub-processor arrangements against your UK GDPR position.
How Infocredit Group supports UK firms
ComplianceSuite handles UK KYB and KYC onboarding, UK, EU and OFAC sanctions and PEP screening, adverse media and continuous monitoring with a full evidence trail. RISQO scores third-party and counterparty risk across ten dimensions for supplier and credit decisions. API4ALL lets UK firms search companies by name or registration number and order Credit, KYB and Structure reports directly inside their existing onboarding stack.
Frequently asked questions
What compliance management software do UK firms need?
UK firms need software that models the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and FCA Handbook requirements directly: risk assessment, customer and enhanced due diligence, screening against the UK Sanctions List maintained by OFSI, ongoing monitoring, SAR workflow for reports to the NCA, and five-year record retention with a reconstructable audit trail.
Does UK sanctions screening differ from EU screening?
Yes. Since 2021 the UK Sanctions List has been maintained independently by OFSI and has diverged from the EU consolidated list. A UK-regulated firm must screen against the UK list, and usually against EU and OFAC lists too where it has exposure to those jurisdictions.
Can Companies House data alone satisfy UK KYB?
No. Companies House confirms existence, officers and filings, and the PSC register records declared beneficial owners, but the data is largely self-declared. UK KYB normally corroborates it with identity verification, group structure resolution, adverse media and financial records.
What does the FCA expect to see during a financial crime review?
The FCA expects a documented, risk-based approach and evidence that it was applied: the firm-wide risk assessment, the customer risk rating and its rationale, the checks performed with dates and data sources, escalation and four-eyes review of alerts, and management information showing the controls are monitored.
How long must UK compliance records be kept?
MLR 2017 requires customer due diligence records and supporting evidence to be kept for five years after the end of the business relationship or the date of the occasional transaction, subject to UK GDPR retention and erasure rules.
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