International conference on financial crime and terrorism financing

This is the 3rd edition of the IFCTF Conference following the hugely successful event in 2010 and 2009.

With increasingly volatile political and economic turmoil in various parts of the globe, financial institutions must be extremely vigilant or become exposed and vulnerable to money laundering and financing of terrorism activities. Sanctioned countries, hostile nations, tax evaders, drug traffickers, people smugglers and dubious organisations are forever exploiting vulnerabilities in the international trade and banking systems to move money from illegal sources for illegal or legitimate purposes. International agencies and regulatory authorities are unable to estimate the volume of money currently launderers with any degree of assurance. Nevertheless, regardless of the difficulty in measurement, the amount of money launderers each year is estimated to be in the billions and pose a significant policy concern for governments. As a result, governments and international bodies have undertaken efforts to deter, prevent and apprehend money launderers. In addition, financial institutions have undertaken efforts to prevent and detect transactions involving dirty money, both as a result of government requirements and to mitigate reputational risk.

However, as the schemes used by money launderers become more sophisticated, approaches to understand the complex money laundering processes and networks must also improve. An effective and comprehensive strengthening of anti-money laundering capacity is necessary as a disincentive to the growing threat posed by organised crime and terrorism in various parts of the globe.

Response to new money laundering challenges necessitates capacity building by creating awareness of the legal and institutional frameworks as well as law enforcement and international cooperation. Identifying new illegal activities and how illicit funds are distributed through the global financial system requires new skills and techniques to diminish such activities. The increasing sophistication of money launderers has accelerated the need for timely exchange of information and intelligence among compliance and enforcement agencies. Many nations are in the process of making suitable amendments to the law on prevention of money laundering and unlawful activities to bring them in line with the core and key recommendations by international anti-money laundering body such as the Financial Action Task Force.

As financial institutions endlessly face new pressures from several fronts, there is a corresponding greater challenge to keep abreast with the latest development in anti-money laundering technology solutions, measures to deal with typologies of various sectors, international regulations and enforcement requirements.

Failure to invest in effective anti-money laundering technology solutions and develop in-depth training programmes to ensure financial institutions comply with new laws and regulations, or other acceptable standards, carries the weight of legal or regulatory sanctions that inevitably would have an adverse impact to earnings, capital or reputation.
In order to the raise the level of professionalism in AML/CFT compliance and build capacity, the Institute of Bank-Bank Malaysia (IBBM) is organising the 3rd International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing 2011 on 19 and 20 September 2011 at the JW Marriott Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Supported by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Bank Negara Malaysia, this event is conducted jointly with the Compliance Officers Networking Group (CONG), Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM), Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII), Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).
The IFCTF 2011 is the channel for local financial institutions to learn from the experts on new frontiers on combating ML/TF. The theme for the IFCTF 2011 conference is “Raising the Bar in Compliance and Enforcement”. The deliberation during the conference will allow delegates to learn recent developments, emerging typologies and threats in AML/CFT from the perspective of both compliance officers as well as law enforcement agencies. IFCTF 2011 will also witness the launching of the AML/CFT Certification programme by IBBM.
The panel discussions, the broad range of topics and the keynote addresses are designed to provide deeper understanding on the new challenges posed by money launderers and ways to mitigate them effectively. The various plenary sessions have sufficient nuggets to hold the interest of the delegates coming from the various financial, non-financial, governmental and enforcement institutions. Topics covered, amongst others, include the oversight of the Board of Directors, international sanctions, informal funds transfer, regulatory expectations of domestic banks, foreign intermediaries and offshore banks in maintaining an effective AML/CFT framework.
The organising committee aspires that the key takeaway points will assist the delegates in designing and implementing a robust AML/CFT framework at their work place based on international best practices and standards.

Source :  Institute of Banking Malaysia