Politically Exposed Person - Politically Exposed Foreign Person or PEP (UK)

Politically Exposed Foreign Person or PEP (UK)

The UK definition of a PEP, as found in the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 are as follows: (This is one text, which is ultimately used by the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group when issuing their Guidance Notes.)

Section 14(5) of the ML Regulations define a PEP as:
“a politically exposed person” means a person who is —
(a) an individual who is or has, at any time in the preceding year, been entrusted with a prominent public function by —
i. a state other than the United Kingdom;
ii. a Community institution; or
iii. an international body, including a person who falls in any of the categories listed in paragraph 4(1)(a) of Schedule 2;
(b) an immediate family member of a person referred to in sub-paragraph (a), including a person who falls in any of the categories listed in paragraph 4(1)(c) of Schedule 2; or
(c) a known close associate of a person referred to in sub-paragraph (a), including a person who falls in either of the categories listed in paragraph 4(1)(d) of Schedule 2.

Where Schedule 2 provides the following clarification: Politically exposed persons
(1) for the purposes of regulation 14(5) are:
(a) individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions include the following—
i. heads of state, heads of government, ministers and deputy or assistant ministers;
ii. members of parliaments;
iii. members of supreme courts, of constitutional courts or of other high-level judicial bodies whose decisions are not generally subject to further appeal, other than in exceptional circumstances;
iv. members of courts of auditors or of the boards of central banks;
v. ambassadors, chargés d’affaires and high-ranking officers in the armed forces; and
vi. members of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of state-owned enterprises;
(b) the categories set out in paragraphs (i) to (vi) of sub-paragraph (a) do not include middle-ranking or more junior officials;
(c) immediate family members include the following—
i. a spouse;
ii. a partner;
iii. children and their spouses or partners; and
iv. parents;
(d) persons known to be close associates include the following—
i. any individual who is known to have joint beneficial ownership of a legal entity or legal arrangement, or any other close business relations, with a person referred to in regulation
14(5)(a); and
ii. any individual who has sole beneficial ownership of a legal entity or legal arrangement which is known to have been set up for the benefit of a person referred to in regulation
14(5)(a).
(2) In paragraph (1)(c), “partner” means a person who is considered by his national law as equivalent to a spouse.