Thousands of City staff covered by the Financial Services Authority could unwittingly break the law due to a lack of training in financial services compliance, New Wide Learning has warned.

As new Anti-Money Laundering legislation comes into force, the training company surveyed 200 City staff and found that 37% had not been trained or had received little training on compliance.

Of those who had been trained, 18% had not received any training in the last two years and 37% had never had a refresher course.

Furthermore, more than one in ten of those surveyed did not know they were covered by the FSA.

Steve Dineen, Chief Executive of Wide Learning said: "It seems to be easy to breach the regulations unwittingly and the FSA is acting powerfully with little flexibility. Senior management, compliance managers and training teams should be reassessing who they have trained and whether some people need to be updated."

The survey also showed an increase in the use of e-learning for compliance training had risen from 21% of staff in 2002 to 61% this year.

Key findings
· 37% of City staff had not been trained or had received little training on compliance.
· Of those who have been trained on compliance, 18% had not received any training in the last two years and 37% had not had a refresher course.
· An increase in the use of e-learning for compliance from 21% of staff in 2002 to 61% in 2004.
· 11% were unaware that they are covered by FSA.
· 28% were unsure of regulatory duties.
· 23% did not know who their Money Laundering Reporting Officer was.