A survey by SmartSearch shows that one in five do not verify the source of funds at all, and over a quarter review bank statements manually. Almost a quarter say they use a combination of manual review and open banking services.

Around 70 per cent of accountants say they don’t use open banking for source of funds verification and 19 per cent don’t verify the source of funds at all.

Approximately 72 per cent of respondents in the property industry don’t use open banking for automatic verification and 20 per cent fail to verify the source of funds at all.

 

‘Surprise firms aren’t adopting open banking’

Fraser Mitchell, technical director of SmartSearch, said: “It’s surprising that regulated firms aren’t faster to adopt open banking, which would really speed up their compliance processes and help secure their business.

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“Digital compliance platforms such as SmartSearch integrate source of funds checks, enabling firms to identify the origin of funds in just 60 seconds and with minimal input from the client. Rather than a complex, additional procedure, it becomes a standard part of client onboarding.”

Collette Allen, chief operating officer at SmartSearch, said: “It’s concerning that so many firms aren’t checking bank accounts even manually. This is a high-risk approach, which could potentially put some of them in contravention of UK anti-money laundering laws.”