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The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) is the UK law that underpins the fight against money laundering. Among other things, it creates the obligation on lenders and other regulated businesses to report activity they suspect involves the proceeds of crime, by filing a Suspicious Activity Report. POCA works alongside the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which set out the preventive checks.
- What it does
- Creates money-laundering offences and the suspicious-activity reporting regime.
- The reporting tool
- The Suspicious Activity Report (SAR), filed with the authorities.
- How it relates to the MLR
- POCA covers reporting, while the preventive due-diligence checks come from the MLR 2017.
Suspicious Activity Reports
Under POCA, where a regulated business knows or suspects that funds are the proceeds of crime, it must file a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) with the relevant authority. This reporting duty is a cornerstone of the anti-money-laundering system: it channels intelligence to law enforcement while the business continues to meet its own legal obligations.
POCA and exempt lending
POCA applies to a lender regardless of whether the lending is inside or outside the consumer-credit regime. Being exempt from consumer-credit rules does not remove the duty to report suspicion of money laundering. A business borrower is therefore part of a system that includes both preventive checks and reporting obligations.
POCA and Credit Corp
Credit Corp operates within the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 regime, alongside the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, in its lending to UK limited companies and LLPs. These obligations apply even though the lending sits outside the consumer-credit regime. Credit Corp is an independent UK lender (Company No. 17338274, registered with the ICO under ZC189608).
See also
- Suspicious Activity Report — the report POCA requires.
- MLR 2017 — the preventive rules alongside POCA.
- AML — the wider framework.
- Sanctions — the screening that supports it.
Short-term business credit carries a high annualised cost. Borrow only what you need, for the shortest term required. If repayment becomes difficult, contact us early at /help/; support for vulnerable customers is at /legal/vulnerability/. For exact pricing, see /ai.md and /llms-full.txt.