Paris, France – The 30th annual Egmont Group (EG) Plenary hosted by the Financial Intelligence Unit of France (Tracfin) took place from June 2 – 7, 2024, in Paris, France.
Special guests Mr. Bruno Le Maire, Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty and Mr. T. Raja Kumar of Singapore, President of the FATF opened the 2024 EG Plenary’s thematic discussion. Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz, Chair of the Egmont Group and Deputy Director, of the Department of Financial Information (Polish FIU) and Antoine Magnant, Director of Tracfin, co-chaired the meeting. This year’s event was attended by 400 delegates including 15 observer organisations who gathered to improve global collaboration in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Egmont discussions are grounded in a context where suspicious transactions, analyzed by Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), are part of the broader estimate of illicit financial flows, which are reported to account for 2-5% of global GDP[1]. The threats posed by money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) activities are complex and multifaceted. Organized crime, identified as one of the ten most widespread criminal trends globally, demonstrates the ability of criminal organizations to adopt increasingly sophisticated structures.
In line with the Egmont Group Charter, Egmont member FIUs:
(1) remain committed to fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This is the mission entrusted to FIUs and their efforts are key to safeguarding economic stability and financial integrity, to the benefit of all citizens.
(2) share objectives, Egmont principles of information exchange and an evaluation process implemented in the framework of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). This shared and demanding global standard is a guarantee of transnational compliance, efficiency and transparency.
(3) aim at tackling constantly evolving and transnational-by-nature terrorist, and money-laundering threats, in a context marked by economic, societal, and technological change.
(4) through their global action, produce tangible operational results, which stem from:
– commonly shared international standards and best practices whose global coherence, consistency and adaptation to new threats and trends are critical;
– a strong national legal framework, as the bedrock of efficient implementation procedures;
– the relentless commitment of FIU agents, whose analyses and disseminations contribute to delivering our collective objectives; and
– the quality of FIU-to-FIU cooperation, tight collaboration with domestic public authorities, private sector and international partners.
(5) highlight the critical importance of international cooperation, which contributes to addressing the AML/CTF threats that they face and fight against.
(6) recognise, however, that they are capable of further progress, in bilateral exchanges and in multilateral approaches, by:
– remaining committed to improving capacities and capabilities of FIUs’ staff, by developing and promoting knowledge on new or emerging AML/CFT methods and trends, good practices and Egmont Group requirements;
– acknowledging the need to enhance and modernise capabilities analysis tools and methods, building on information technology solutions and innovative techniques to address emerging challenges;
– remaining engaged in improving international cooperation, through constant efforts to better understand each other and exchange of good practices.
– respond in a systematic and rapid manner to requests relating to the financing of terrorism to further deepen the fight against this threat, and to significantly improve our response time in the field of anti-money laundering, by responding as swiftly as possible when the urgency of a request is duly signalled and justified, as per the Egmont Principles of information exchange.
Consistent with 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 typologies, methods, and trends and further reaffirms member FIUs commitment to a stronger and more robust AML/CFT regime, this year’s 30th Plenary focused on the central theme “The Next Generation FIU”.
In this frame, 3 sub-topics were addressed:
Session 1 – Developing the future workforce of the FIU.
Focusing on the evolving role and responsibilities of FIUs, in the global AML/CFT environment, the panel and audience explored ideas of how to build and evolve FIUs, both as effective AML/CTF system leaders and fulfilling environments for the staff working within them.
Session 2 – How will the future FIU use technology?
The new strategic approaches related to the implementation of Emerging Technologies provide FIUs with the opportunity to enhance their effectiveness which was explored through a structured conversation and audience discussion.
Session 3 – Future FIU’s role in addressing emerging crime types.
The final session focused on emerging financial criminal activities, such as laundering of the proceeds of environmental and tax crime; and explored with a distinguished panel the FIU´s role in the early identification and addressing of these crimes.
The EG is also pleased to present that it now boasts 177 members following the acceptance of the FIUs from Suriname, Maldives, and Liberia as members of the organisation. The EG continues to strengthen its membership through outreach efforts in geographic regions of strategic focus, including Africa, Asia and Pacific, and the Middle East and Northern Africa. During the event, 33 Memorandums of Understanding were signed by member FIUs, strengthening the opportunities for financial intelligence sharing on ML/TF matters.
The following project was also received final Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (HoFIU) endorsement:
- Information Exchange Working Group’s Project Report on Effective Analytical Tools and Cloud-Based Services for FIUs.
Other highlights of the 30th Egmont Plenary:
- Many delegates participated in a Best Egmont Case Award (BECA) Workshop, Egmont Centre of FIU Excellence and Leadership (ECOFEL) Workshop and Operational Training sessions, including a Joint Information Exchange and Technical Assistance and Training Working Groups’ Workshop on Abuse of NPOs for TF purposes and an IT-specific workshop.
- In a first-of-a-kind joint meeting, the Information Exchange and Technical Assistance and Training Working Groups (TATWG) discussed several important topics in their current and future collaboration. The main objective of this fruitful cooperation was to use the natural synergies between the two working groups to continue delivering high-quality knowledge and content for the benefit of member FIUs.
- Among other deliverables, during the joint session, IEWG and TATWG presented a comprehensive e-learning training package and video on the topic of Countering Trade Based and Service Based Money Laundering and Misuse of Corporate Structures.
- The HoFIU approved the status of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) as an Egmont Group Observer Organization.
- The HoFIU developed a new biennial census which is a valuable tool for enhancing information exchange with member FIUs.
The organization selected Elzbieta Frankow-Jaskiewicz, Deputy Director of the Department of Financial Information (Polish FIU), as the new EG Chair for a two-year term.
The organization also selected Mr. Mohammed Shahid Ahmed, Deputy-Director and the Chief of Staff, FIU Nigeria, as the new EG Vice-Chair for a two-year term. He is joining Elzbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz, Chair and Sheika May Bint Al Khalifa, Vice-Chair on our organization’s leadership team.
Throughout the week, the organization also finalized several selection procedures for additional EG leadership roles for a two-year term ending after the 2026 EG Plenary, including:
- Tarek Zahran, FIU Lebanon, was selected as Vice-Chair of the Membership, Support, and Compliance Working Group.
- Mariana Currais, FIU Argentina and a representative from FIU France were selected as Vice-Chair of the Policy and Procedures Working Group
- Meriton Shoshi, FIU Kosovo, was selected as Vice Chair of the Technical Assistance and Training Working Group.
- Aileen Guzman Coste, FIU Dominican Republic and Mr. Julio Pinedo, FIU Colombia, were selected as Regional Representative for the Americas Regional Group.
- Jacinta Kirkpatrick, FIU Australia, was selected as Regional Representative for the Asia and Pacific Regional Group.
- Bryan Eiseb, FIU Namibia, was selected as Regional Representative for the East and Southern Africa Regional Group.
- Alfred Zammit, FIU Malta was selected as Regional Representative for Europe I Regional Group.
- Michaela Schutz, FIU Switzerland, was selected as Regional Representative for Europe II Regional Group.
Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera del Perú (UIF) (FIU Peru) was voted as this year’s BECA recipient with a case that earned recognition due to the volume, case complexity, innovative financial intelligence methods and the developed international cooperation network. Honourable mention goes to 2024 BECA runner-up Intendencia de Verificación Especial (Special Verification Intendancy) (FIU Guatemala) for their successful case contribution.
The EG would like to express appreciation to its Observers and International Partners for their continuous support and cooperation, including the valuable updates from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the European Commission shared during the meetings. The EG also thanks The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Customs Organization (WCO) and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for their presentations during the Working Groups meetings, and UNODC and INTERPOL for their help during the training sessions that took place.
The EG thanks Tracfin for extending a warm welcome as hosts of the 30th EG Plenary in Paris, France. The EG appreciates the time and effort invested in planning the event and is pleased with the success achieved this year. Congratulations to the Head of Tracfin, Antoine Magnant and his team for organizing a successful event!
FIUs are indispensable in the fight against financial crimes. Their ability to collect, analyze, and share financial intelligence makes them a cornerstone of effective AML/CFT regimes worldwide. We thank our member FIUs for their commitment and dedication to ensuring a safer and more secure financial landscape, where illicit activities are detected, deterred, and disrupted, safeguarding the integrity of the global financial system for the benefit of all.
Paris, France
June 7, 2024
Background:
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is a global organization formed by 177 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.
Further EG information and a list of EG member FIUs can be found at egmontgroup.org.
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[1] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate that the amount of money laundered globally each year is between 2-5% of global GDP. This range translates to approximately $800 billion to $2 trillion USD annually (UNODC) (IMF) (UNODC).
