Engagement Letters

claudialowe

Before 6 April hits me round the head again - I am trying to get IDs out of my longstanding clients that I have had before the last lot of money laundering regs came into force.

Which brought me round to thinking about engagement letters.

How often do you update these? Annually? When the price changes? Never?

I am quite loathe to do it say on 5/6 April - as I don't know how large the carrier bag will be, or how late it will be - and these affect the price that I will charge that year :001_rolleyes:

What do you lot do?

Claudia

T.C.

I must get my head around the IDs. Should I be checking all old clients now and before 6th April? I will be checking my letter of engagement this year, but don't change it every year. I don't put prices in my letter of engagement. I do this separately, so I can keep a standard engagement letter. Would love to hear what everyone else is doing though, particularly with regard to checking IDs!!

shaxxa

Must admit that I need to get my head round ID's too.
Although it may be a quiet period for me, all my 'available' time is allocated to studying ATT ready for mock exam next week arrghhhhh and revision for the May exam :crying: (Oh why do I put myself through this)!:crying:
As this will only be my second year as a MIP, I have not yet considered revising engagement letters but I guess it will have to be done but will be one of those tasks amongst the many others that will go on the back burner for now.
But 'note to self' :huh::huh: must sort out ID's as priority!
I have learnt though as TC has done not to mention actual fees on engagement letters but will still have to redo a few when I come to eventually tackling the issue.

T.C.

Just tried to download the Money Laundering Guidelines from the AAT site to study my obligations a bit further - page unavailable - great!

claudialowe

TC - No, as far as I am aware nothing needs to be done by 5 April (just when I start to get really busy again) - but they do need to be done.

People that I only see once a year will probably wait until I next see them again - unless they need a new engagement letter.... hence the question.

Glad to see that everyone else is as confused as I am :thumbup:

Claudia

Poodle

Hi Claudia

My busy period extended into February and so I too have just started to think about things like this (including doing some filing)

Regarding engagement letters, I use the AAT letter adjusted according to the legal entity of my client. I do not intend to renew these each year, unless the status has changed as the letter does say that once agreed the letter remains effective from the date of signing. However, the AAT changed the wording of this to 'SOCA' last year and so I had intended to renew as I see my clients through the year. I will do the usual annual letter later this month to all of my clients but I do not intend to send out new letters of engagement, mainly because of the cost of postage.

Turning to ID, I have a money laundering sheet at the front of each of my clients file and again I review this, as I see my clients.

I attended the EGM last year and the guy there said that providing we review the situation and make a note that we are happy that the regulations are not being breached by the client then we are covered. ID does not have to be just having sight or a copyof a driving licence or passport, If you have been dealing with the client for many years then I understood that to be sufficient for ID purposes, but you should make a note of that fact in your money laundering file.

For new clients I used to ask to have a copy of personal ID but I do not always do that now depending on how the client came to me. Just seeing a document is sufficient, providing you make a note of the document seen.

I am sure that others are doing things differently but this is how I have approached the subject.

Poodle

T.C.

That sounds very sensible. Thank you. :001_smile:

sheelagh

AAT Money laundering Guidance

I went to the AAT mastercourse on Money laundering last month. The speaker announced that AAT will be issuing guidelines for members in about 3 weeks - I guess that means there should be some useful guidance available online by the middle / end of March.
The course covered ID, but also the requirement for a risk assessment policy to establish the level of risk of ML for each client. I'm hoping AAT will provide some good quality guidance for this.
Incidentally, AAT have appointed an advisor/consultant to help members with the new regulations. He's a very helpful and approachable chap so well worth seeking out if you have need some assistance.

shaxxa

Thanks Sheelagh :thumbup1: