International Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors meet in Washington

20 December 2016

The Department of Internal Affairs represented New Zealand at an international forum in Washington of supervisors who combat money laundering and terrorism financing (on 8 December). The other NZ supervisors under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT Act) are the Reserve Bank and the Financial Markets Authority.

The international supervisors forum (ISF) met with senior executives of global money service businesses Western Union, MoneyGram and RIA Money Transfer to discuss the ISF’s role and initiatives, share information and create an ongoing dialogue on prevalent compliance matters. These three global money service businesses all operate within jurisdictions covered by the ISF.

Topics included:

· How do money service businesses manage compliance issues in high-risk jurisdictions and respond to advisories issued by their domestic or international regulators?

· How do money service businesses with a global footprint address enterprise wide risks?

· What are some of the triumphs, challenges and ongoing initiatives in regards to agent supervision?

· How are money service businesses identifying and reporting on foreign terrorist fighters?

Natasha Weight, Manager Financial Integrity at Internal Affairs, who attended the forum says: “The ISF is a really valuable cross-jurisdictional forum for us to discuss our approach to AML/CFT supervision and share information and ideas with our international regulatory peers, and so that we can take a joined-up approach to global money laundering/terrorist financing activities. Meeting with the three money service businesses helps further our goal to co-ordinate our public and private sector efforts to combat international financial criminals. The more we do that, the safer the global financial system will be.”

The global money service business industry is recognised globally as having inherent money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks. Money service business providers play a critical role in identifying, mitigating and managing those risks across multiple jurisdictions through major agent networks, many of whom transact to high-risk jurisdictions with less advanced money laundering and terrorism financing regulatory regimes.

The International Supervisors Forum was established in 2013 by government regulatory agencies from New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes, as well as strengthen domestic and international compliance and supervisory regimes.

Cross jurisdictional co-operation and regulatory efforts are essential to managing the continuing change to the trans-national nature of ML/TF, due particularly to the rapid evolution of financial technologies and the provision of financial products globally.

The ISF is working with their respective law enforcement agencies, sharing operational practices, methodologies and training and leveraging resources in order to strengthen the international anti-terrorist financing and money laundering regulatory community. These activities form the foundation of ISF work.

ISF members regulate a significant number of money service businesses that have a presence in some or all of its jurisdictions. The ISF intends to co-ordinate, on a global level, compliance and enforcement activities on entities within the MSB industry.

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Media Contact: Emma Blackmore 0272017415