2021 Financial crime Outlook series Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Our financial crime compliance … Continue Reading
On 19 March 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a public consultation on proposed revisions to its 2019 guidance on the risk-based approach to virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The FATF is proposing to update its guidance in order to: Clarify the definitions of VA and VASP to make … Continue Reading
On 18 March 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced that in February it had launched a new project to study and mitigate the unintended consequences resulting from the incorrect implementation of the FATF Standards. The project will look at four areas: De-risking. Financial exclusion. Suppression of non-profit organisations (NPOs) or the NPO sector … Continue Reading
On 11 March 2021 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Egmont Group published a joint report on trade-based money laundering (TBML) risk indicators. This follows on from a report published in December last year by the same bodies highlighting pertinent trends and developments with respect to TBML for market participants to be aware of. … Continue Reading
2021 Financial crime Outlook series Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Our financial crime compliance … Continue Reading
On 4 March 2021 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released new guidance aimed at supporting the application of a risk-based approach to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) supervision. This builds on previous guidance released in 2015, but widens the scope of the guidance to enhance applicability to more recently AML regulated … Continue Reading
FATF consults on guidance relating to Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment and Mitigation On 2 March 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) launched a consultation aimed at private sector stakeholders in relation to guidance which the FATF is developing regarding risks associated with the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (proliferation financing). This … Continue Reading
2021 Financial crime Outlook series Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Our financial crime compliance … Continue Reading
Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Our financial crime compliance specialists, located in the UK, … Continue Reading
Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Norton Rose Fulbright’s financial crime compliance specialists, located in … Continue Reading
Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Norton Rose Fulbright’s financial crime compliance specialists, located in … Continue Reading
On 16 December 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a paper providing entities with additional information on COVID-19 related money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The paper covers both changes in predicate offences and changes in money laundering and terrorist financing activity. It provides selected case studies, displaying criminal activity that has occurred … Continue Reading
The Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) issued a consultation paper on 3 November 2020 seeking comments on its proposal (the New Regs) to amend Hong Kong’s anti-money laundering legislation to bring exchanges that offer virtual assets (VAs) that are not securities within the regulatory remit of Hong Kong’s securities regulator, the Securities and Futures … Continue Reading
On 21 to 23 October 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) held its final quarterly plenary of 2020 as a virtual event. The discussions over three days mostly focussed on Strategic Initiatives reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic and progress made on country specific processes. The FATF also provided an update on their strategic focus … Continue Reading
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has launched a three-month consultation on proposals to amend its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) guidelines for licensed corporations (LCs) and associated entities (AEs).[1] The proposed amendments aim to align the AML/CTF guidelines with the Guidance for a Risk-based Approach for the Securities Sector (RBA Guidance) issued … Continue Reading
On 14 September 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a report, Virtual Assets – Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. The report is based on more than 100 case studies and is designed to help national authorities and financial institutions identify potential money laundering and terrorist financing activity involving virtual … Continue Reading
In September 2020, SWIFT (a global member-owned cooperative and provider of secure financial messaging services) published a report to support market participants in understanding the money laundering techniques which underpin large-scale cyber-attacks. The report sets out the end-to-end journey commonly used by criminals to launder funds obtained through illicit cyber-crime related activities, and focusses on … Continue Reading
On 12 August 2020, the Wolfsberg Group published its statement on developing an effective anti-money laundering (AML) / counter-terrorism financing (CTF) programme. In December 2019, the Wolfsberg Group published a statement on effectiveness which encourages jurisdictions to adopt the Financial Action Task Force’s focus on effective outcomes. As part of that statement, the Wolfsberg Group … Continue Reading
On 7 August 2020, the Wolfsberg Group, published new guidance targeted at private banking and wealth management divisions within financial institutions (FIs) to support the undertaking of source of wealth (SoW) and source of funds (SoF) checks. Based on the principles of the application of a risk-based approach (RBA), different customers will require a different … Continue Reading
On 7 July 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors regarding stablecoins. The June 2019 revisions to the FATF Standards place anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) requirements on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The FATF report finds that stablecoins share … Continue Reading
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published a circular setting out key observations and good practices relating to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) control measures applicable to remote customer on-boarding initiatives. The feedback is based on recent thematic reviews, engagement with authorized institutions (AIs) and technology firms in the Fintech Supervisory … Continue Reading
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published guidance to assist authorized institutions (AIs) and stored value facility (SVF) licensees with their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) risk management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The HKMA has reiterated in the circulars that it does not expect a “zero failure” outcome from AIs and … Continue Reading
An increasingly globalised business environment, together with technological innovation, political uncertainty and ongoing regulatory change, present a number of challenges for financial institutions when it comes to protecting themselves against financial crime. Our global anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance survey will explore how financial institutions across the globe are managing their compliance programs in light of the … Continue Reading
On 4 September 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published their mutual evaluation report (the Report) on the level of compliance with the FATF recommendations and the effectiveness of Hong Kong’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) system. Overall, the Report is positive and concludes that Hong Kong has generally sound and effective … Continue Reading
