News and Events

When adopting the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan, the Heads of Egmont Group FIUs acknowledged the positive potential of new technologies (e.g. FinTech) and monetary instruments (e.g. crypto-currencies) in changing the financial landscape. Unregulated sectors and actors operating in the virtual space, for which little is known about their modus operandi and their impact on ML/TF activities, deploy effective means of hiding the identity of individuals involved in financial transactions. To address with this new reality, FIUs must understand these factors and their impact on future financial flows.

On July 8^th to 9^th, the Heads of Egmont Group FIUs will convene in a series of four webinars to share expertise and strategically discuss how to equip FIUs with knowledge and expertise to better tackle the ML/TF risks associated with VAs/VASPs/MPS and to rapidly provide the widest range of international cooperation. There will be 2 webinars of 1.5 hours each day. The following topics will be covered:

• Introduction to VAs and VASPs: terminology, AML/CFT regime vulnerabilities stemming from VAs, the revised FATF standards and their impact on the FIUs’ interactions with VASPs sector. (July 8^th at 8:00AM EST)
  • Moderated by: Mrs. SHLOMIT WAGMAN – HoFIU IMPA, Israel
  • Presenters:
    • Ms. JANET HO and Mr. KEN MENZ, FATF Secretariat
    • Ms. SIÂN JONES, Senior Partner, XReg.Consulting
    • Prof. LOUIS DE KOKER, LA Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia)
• Operational aspects associated with VAs: blockchain or other technology analyses, information gaps, expertise requirements, IT tools, etc. (July 8^th at 10:00 AM EST)
  • Moderated by: Mr. MARKO STOLLE – Deputy HoFIU, FIU Germany
  • Presenters:
    • Mr. BEAUNARD GROBLER, Monitoring and Analysis Department, FIU South Africa
    • Mr. FERNANDO BARBA, Analysis Department, FIU Paraguay
    • Mr. ELAD WEIDER, Head of International Department, FIU Israel
• Domestic and International Cooperation on ML/TF Cases Through VAs or VASPs: challenges and best practices. (July 9^th at 8:00AM EST)
  • Moderated by: Mr. KENNETH A. BLANCO – HoFIU, FinCEN, United States of America
  • Presenters:
    • Ms. MICHELE R. KORVER, Digital Currency Counsel, Department of Justice | Criminal Division, Money Laundering & Asset Recovery Section, United States of America
    • Mr. MATT BRAIN, Deputy Senior Investigating Officer, National Crime Agency, South-West Regional Cyber Crime Unit, United Kingdom
    • Mr. CARLOS OROZCO, Acting Supervisory Special Agent, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, USA
• Vulnerabilities of mobile payment services (MPS) to ML/TF: FIU challenges and best practices. (July 9^th at 10:00AM EST)
  • Moderated by: Ms. XOLISILE KHANYILE – HoFIU, FIC, South Africa
  • Presenters:
    • Ms. RAMATOULAYE GADIO AGNE – HoFIU, FIU Senegal
    • Mr. SHEM PIETER GOWI – Head of the Monitoring and Analysis Division, FIU Kenya
    • Mr. AMR RASHED – Head of International Cooperation, FIU Egypt

The FIUs from Israel, Germany, South Africa and the United States of America graciously offered to moderate the discussions. In addition to FIU experts, representatives from academia and the private sector will present during the webinars.

From July 7^th – 09^th, the ECOFEL team will be organising several virtual operational training sessions on the following topics:

1. The role of the FIUs in national ML/TF risk assessments: Lessons learned (July 7)

• This training session will clarify the role of FIUs in National Risk Assessments and provide important information on successes, failures and lessons learned.

2. COVID-19 – Best Practices for FIUs (July 8)

• This training session will help FIUs to build knowledge and acquire a better understanding of the risks and challenges posed by COVID-19.

3. Illegal Wildlife Trade as a Financial Crime (July 9)

• This co-delivered training session by FATF and ECOFEL will help FIUs to better understand, identify and investigate financial flows related to Illegal Wildlife Trade.

ECOFEL’s subject matter experts will answer every question you may have during these training sessions.

The ECOFEL virtual operational training sessions will be accessible on the ECOFEL eLearning platform at 10:00 am EST for all FIU staff.

If you haven’t registered yourself for the eLearning platform yet, please do so here: https://learn.ecofel.org