2020 witnesses changes that affect the art and antiques sector. Whilst anti-money laundering legislation has been around for many years it is now being applied to auctioneers and dealers for higher value sales, and associated, cumulative sales. The challenge for those working in this sector is to find an effective solution they can use to meet legislative requirements quickly enough but without impacting their day-to-day business with administrative overheads.
The new anti-money laundering legislation comes into force in January 2020. The new law applies to ‘Art Market Participants’ or AMPs. These are auction houses, dealers or anyone trading in or acting as an intermediary in the trade of works of art that sell above a threshold established at ten thousand euros per item.
Auctioneers and dealers must be ready to implement measures ahead of the introduction of the EU’s fifth anti-money laundering directive from January 10th 2020. They must register with HMRC, risk assess their business and put policies and procedures in place in place ready for the directive (also referred to as 5MLD).
Auctioneers and dealers will be required to verify identities and perform appropriate due diligence checks on buyers when items are purchased for above 10,000 euros. The new legislation also includes lower-valued linked transactions that can cumulatively add up to over 10,000 euros.
AS HMRC will most likely take a pragmatic approach to rolling out this legislation, Auctioneers and dealers have time to implement a digital solution to meet legislative requirements however they still need to act quickly.
Without a solution, auctioneers and dealers face a heavy burden of administration. As this sector adjusts so there will be an impact on day to day processes. Auctioneers and dealers must ensure that they meet the requirements in 2020 such as creating and putting into practice a AML (anti money-laundering) policy, a risk assessment, establishing a record keeping system, appointing an AML officer together with a deputy AML officer, training employees and keeping a record of who is trained.
Orchestra Read & Comply® is the perfect solution for these new legislative requirements as it enables Auctioneers and dealers to create, manage, issue,monitor and report on policy AML policy compliance and training within their organisations and can be implemented quickly.
As importantly, whilst the antiques industry is a green industry, the use of Orchestra as a digital policy solution assists in helping auctioneers and dealers become net zero carbon neutral businesses. Cloud based computing solutions are ideal for this sector where on-premise infrastructure is neither green nor cost effective.
For more information get in touch with us at Signarus on 0207 788 9445 or email us at info@signarus.com.
