Fifth Money Laundering Directive (MLD5)

The 4th Money Laundering Directive ("MLD 4") came into force in the EU on 26 June 2017. On that date, the UK implemented the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 to transpose MLD 4 into UK law.

MLD 4 brought in changes to strengthen the anti-money laundering ("AML") regime throughout Europe, including amendments to the definition of 'beneficial owner' and requiring Member States to establish central registers of beneficial ownership for corporate and legal entities. This was an important driver behind the 'Persons with Significant Control' regime in the UK.

Despite the implementation date of 26 June 2017, a significant number of Member States have not yet implemented MLD 4 (including Ireland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania). The delay in implementation has been due to late stage amendments to MLD 4 at EU level, and concerns over the publically available central registers.