U.K. financial institutions filed a record number of "defense against money laundering," or DAML, requests in the year to September 2016, the National Crime Agency disclosed Wednesday. In a 56-page report, the NCA said that the number of requests for a statutory defense against money laundering to process suspicious transactions increased from 14,465 to 17,909, or nearly 24 percent in the year up to September 2016, and that around 6 percent of those requests were ultimately declined. In June 2016 guidance, the NCA said that regulated entities can request consent to conduct specific transactions they suspect involve criminal or terrorist...