Insights
Human rights sanctions
On 6th July 2020 the UK government announced a ground breaking global sanction regime against Human Rights abusers that will target individuals and organisation involved in some of the gravest human rights violations and abuses around the world. The sanctions came into effect immediately and initially named individuals in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Myanmar and North…
Read MoreEU names additions to list of high-risk third countries
The EU’s 5th Money Laundering Directive broadened the criteria for the European Commission (EC) in assessing high-risk third countries. The EC recently announced that in October 2020 several countries will be added to the list of high-risk third countries, including Barbados, Cambodia, Mauritius, and Ghana. These countries are identified as having strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money…
Read MoreMalta is at risk of being the first EU country to be grey-listed by Moneyval.
Following Malta’s fail grade in September 2019 of it’s anti-money laundering laws (AML/CTF) and their enforcement, Prime Minister Robert Abela has tried to reassure Members of Parliament (MP’s) and the public that he is confident they will pass the assessment due to take place in October 2020. The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) CEO Joseph…
Read MoreAUSTRAC proposes amendments to AML/CTF rules
On 14 July 2020, AUSTRAC, the Australian Government agency responsible for protecting the community from financial crime such as money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF), has released for public consultation proposed amendments to Chapter 46 of the AML/CTF rules. Chapter 46 outlines rules related to “Applicable Customer Identification Procedures” (ACIP) and these proposed amendments aim…
Read More21st July 2020 note from CEO
As we continue to watch the rapid acceleration of COVID-19 both in Australia and overseas create wide-reaching impacts on our business and personal lives it is hard to see a return to anything that resembles business as usual anytime soon. As with any crisis there are always opportunists looking to make a fortune from others…
Read MoreIs your AML/CTF compliance program up to scratch?
OPINION: On June 4th, Westpac released its 48-page response to AUSTRAC’s statement of claim following the conclusion of the Promontory led Advisory Panel tasked with identifying the primary causes for the well documented AML/CTF failings. The findings in this report are by no means exclusive to Westpac. Many of these issues can be commonly found…
Read MoreJune 2020 note from CEO
Since we issued our last newsletter an incredible amount of activity has been happening in the financial crime space globally, that it’s made drawing up a shortlist of things to talk about a bit challenging…! In Australia, the most significant development occurred on June 4th, when Westpac released its 48-page response to AUSTRAC’s statement of…
Read MoreEU update – June 2020
UK regulator issued second largest fine for AML failings. The FCA has fined Commerzbank London £37,805,400 over anti-money laundering failures between 2012 and 2017. The original fine was reduced from £57,007,800 as Commerzbank agreed to resolve the matter at an early stage Commerzbank breached Principle 3 of the FCA’s Principles for Businesses, which requires firms…
Read MoreCustomer insights – June 2020
In industry news, AUSTRAC has announced the deadline for 2019 compliance reports is 30 June 2020, extended from 31 March, due to the impact of COVID-19. And small to medium businesses restricted from opening during COVID-19 will not be penalised for missing the deadline. Meanwhile in New Zealand, the DIA has extended the timeframe for…
Read MoreNews in brief – June 2020
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