News in brief – December 2020

APAC

• The Financial Planning Association (FPA) believe that complying with the Privacy Act should be made a responsibility of all financial services companies, not just reporting entities who are subjected to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006
• Assembly Payments has reached a milestone in 2020 by surpassing $4 billion of its own transaction volume in the New Payments Platform (NPP) and urge other fintechs for greater collaboration to tackle key challenges within financial crime
• AUSTRAC report states casino tour operators pose high risks to provisioning political donations through illicit international money movements raising concerns around political foreign interference with the involvement of foreign politically exposed persons (PEPs)
• Crow Resorts faces a new shareholder class action due to deceptive conduct over its adherence to compliance obligations

EUROPE

• A Dutch court has ordered the public prosecutor to open a probe into UBS Group AG’s new chief executive officer, regarding his role in ING’s failures to comply with Anti-Money Laundering rules

NORTH AMERICA

• Canada’s four largest provinces will receive nearly $100 million in funding for new Anti-Money Laundering units. The government aims to set up the investigation teams British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec by end of March 2021
• The U.S. Senate passed a bill to prevent the creation of anonymous shell companies which requires most companies their true beneficial owners to the government thus opening lines of communication further between regulators and law enforcement. This will be sent to the White House to gain the President’s signature before becoming the law

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