April 2021

International

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors confirmed their commitment to tackling all sources, techniques and channels of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation.
Updated its consolidated assessment ratings which provides an up-to-date overview of the ratings that assessed countries obtained for effectiveness and technical compliance.
Published New Zealand's measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing - it is delivering good results, but the country needs to focus more on improving the availability of beneficial ownership information, strengthening supervision and implementation of targeted financial sanctions.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)

Released a suite of educational resources, with real-life examples, on how to submit more effective suspicious matter reports (SMRs). The new resources include a reference guide and checklist, and feature guidance on how to write succinct, accurate and clear grounds for suspicion.
Six people allegedly involved in a Western Sydney crime syndicate have been arrested by the Australian Federal Police over a multi-million dollar fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Two more Australians have been arrested and charged in connection to a major joint international MDMA drug investigation originating in the Netherlands in 2019.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)

Reviewed reporting entities’ policies, procedures and controls for relating to politically exposed persons (PEPs). Key issues identified:

No policy in the AML/CFT programme to conduct PEP checks on each customer and beneficial owner.
No policy in the AML/CFT programme which required Senior Manager approval before continuing a business relationship with a PEP.
No procedure in the AML/CFT programme which outlined how a PEP check would be conducted (e.g. through the use of a third party, or in-house open source check).
No policy or procedure in the AML/CFT programme to keep a record of each PEP check conducted.
No New Zealand definition in the AML/CFT programme of what a PEP is, and what persons are included.
No control in the AML/CFT programme to ensure that PEP checks had been completed.

Published Regulatory Findings Report 2020. In this report DIA highlighted the key effectiveness observations from their compliance assessments. While DIA continues to assess technical compliance of reporting entities under the Act, effective AML/CFT measures help stop criminals laundering the proceeds of drug offending, fraud, tax evasion and other crimes through a reporting entity’s business, and therefore effectiveness will continue to be a focus point when undertaking their compliance work.

No major updates this month.

The Law Society of Scotland

Released specialist AML guidance for trust & company work and notaries.
Published an update on the work of the committee from 1 July 2020 until 28 February 2021.

GOV.UK

Added a webinar on 27th May aimed at art market participants, which introduces you to what your business has to do to meet its obligations under the money laundering regulations.

The European Banking Authority (EBA)

Issued EBA AML/CFT Newsletter, which includes the news mentioned in the previous Arctic’s regulatory update.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

Issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit public comment on a wide range of questions related to the implementation of the beneficial ownership information reporting provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
Will host a special monthly virtual FinCEN Innovation Hours Program on June 10, 2021, focusing on the important role of underserved groups in developing technology to fight illicit financial activity and protect the nation’s security.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)

Published new guidance for obligated financial institutions supporting the use of external data in AML/CFT platforms. It states that such institutions should support the integration of information and data from external sources as a means to enhance the targeting and mitigation of specific ML/TF risks.

The Customs and Excise Department

Mounted an operation codenamed "Shadow Hunter II" between April 15 and 19. A money laundering syndicate has been smashed successfully while the amount involved in the case has reached $2.5 billion.

No major updates this month.

No major updates this month.