FCA consultation on OPBAS fees - Law Society response

The Law Society has responded to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consultation on recovering the costs of the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).

The consultation sought views on how best to distribute the start-up and running costs of OPBAS across the 22 Professional Body Supervisors (PBS) listed in the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, and any new PBS.

The Society’s submission urges costs to be kept to a minimum and suggests these should be allocated by placing PBS into fee bands – large, medium or small – in line with the size of a PBS.