FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2024
France’s Financial Intelligence Unit (Tracfin) Hosts Four Hundred Egmont Group Representatives from Around the Globe
Paris, France – The 30th annual Egmont Plenary convenes from June 2 and 7, 2024. Four hundred delegates from the Egmont Group (EG), international partners, and observers worldwide are participating and contributing to meetings and the Plenary in Paris. We extend our gratitude to Tracfin, France’s Financial Intelligence Unit, for graciously hosting this significant event.
As a global organisation, the EG both facilitates and prompts the exchange of information, knowledge, and cooperation amongst member FIUs. It offers a secure platform for sharing expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering (ML), associated predicate offences, and terrorist financing (TF).
The EG Plenary focuses on one central theme. This year’s theme, The Next Generation FIU, supports the 2022-2027 EG Strategic Plan’s vision and aspirations to ensure that the EG and its members stay abreast of new or emerging ML/TF and predicate crime typologies, methods, and trends. The theme is featured throughout the week’s meeting discussions and is the topic for the Plenary’s final thematic discussion on Thursday, June 6, 2024.
“The annual Plenary serves as a crucial platform for international collaboration, empowering the Egmont Group to harness the collective expertise, knowledge, and resources of its members to pursue shared goals,” says Mrs. Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz, Interim Chair of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units. “We look forward to fruitful discussions centred on the theme of “the Next Generation FIU,” aimed at tackling emerging challenges and opportunities while embracing digital and environmental transitions.”
Special guests include Mr. Bruno Le Maire, Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, as well as Mr. Thomas Cazenave, Minister for Public Accounts within the French Ministry of the Economy and Mr. T. Raja Kumar of Singapore, president of the FATF, who will open the 2024 EG Plenary’s thematic discussion, followed by remarks from Mr. Antoine Magnant, Head of France’s Financial Intelligence Unit (Tracfin), and Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz, Interim Chair of the EG and Deputy Director of the Department of Financial Information of the Polish Ministry of Finance (Polish FIU – The General Inspector of Financial Information).
This year’s thematic discussion topic will be divided into three sessions:
Session 1 – Developing the future workforce of the FIU.
Session 2 – How will the future FIU use technology?
Session 3 – Future FIU’s role in addressing emerging crime types.
During the week, the EG will also host the annual Best Egmont Case Award (BECA) Competition.
BECA is an initiative of the Technical Assistance and Training Working Group that encourages Egmont Group member FIUs to share cases where the exchange of financial intelligence has led to successful ML/TF investigations. Every year, two finalists are selected, and the winner is selected by a panel of judges at the annual Egmont Group Plenary.
“As France is ready to welcome athletes and sports fans from all around the world for the 33rd Olympics Games, Tracfin is thrilled to welcome the Egmont community in Paris for the 30th Plenary, our AML-CFT Olympics! “, expressed Antoine Magnant, head of the French Financial Intelligence Unit (Tracfin). “We look forward to a week of enlightening discussions and engaging efforts to continuously adapt to todays and tomorrow’s challenges”.
As per the EG Charter, the HoFIU convenes annual Plenary meetings for members, observers, and international partners that are strategic, decision-oriented, and consequential to the EG community and beyond. In particular, the HoFIU thematic discussions aim to produce tangible take-home results, including concrete activities and results for EG members, FIUs, and partners in the AML/CFT network. As well as the Plenary meeting, the Egmont Group’s four unique Working Groups, the Information Exchange Working Group, Membership, Support, and Compliance Working Group, Policy and Procedures Working Group, Technical Assistance and Training Working Group, and eight Regional Groups will also hold meetings. These meetings provide the Egmont Working and Regional Groups with the opportunity to collaborate on projects and initiatives in support of the 2022-2027 Egmont Strategic Plan.
– 30 –
Background:
FIUs annually receive thousands of suspicious transaction reports and other reports with links to other countries. Therefore, international partner collaboration is crucial and is the reason why, in 1995, facilitating and promoting information exchanges among FIUs formed the framework for today’s widely recognised and highly respected international organisation, the EG, currently consisting of 174 members and counting.
Associated Links:
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is a global organization formed by 174 member FIUs established to facilitate and prompt the exchange of information, knowledge, and cooperation among its members. The Egmont Group focuses on three core activities. Firstly, its secure Information exchange platform promotes operational cooperation among members. Secondly, the Egmont Group provides capacity-building opportunities through its structure of working groups along with its Capacity Building Program (ECOFEL). Thirdly, the Egmont Group enhances shared knowledge and expertise among members by regularly producing typology reports, red flags, and indicators.
Tracfin is France’s national financial intelligence unit. Placed under the authority of the Ministry of the Economy and, Finance. As an investigative service with an operational purpose, Tracfin carries out three priority missions: the fight against economic and financial crime; the fight against public finance fraud; and the defence of the fundamental interests of the nation, notably in the fight against the financing of terrorism and criminal interference.
Media Contact:
Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units
Nina Camilleri
Communications Officer
Social Media:
LinkedIn:
Egmont Group of FIUs (linkedin.com/company/egmont-group-fius/)
Twitter:
Egmont Group of FIUs (@EGFIU) (twitter.com/EGFIU)
Event Hashtag: #EGFIU2024Plenary