| Subject: | Re: Letter to all IEWG members - request for approval to start a new joint project with the FATF RTMG on digital transformation for AML/CFT |
|---|---|
| Date: | Thu, 4 Mar 2021 07:53:56 +0300 |
| From: | Tanzania FIU <tanzania.fiu@egmont.org> |
| To: | Nedko Krumov <Nedko.Krumov@egmont.org>, a-fiu@egmont.org, ahmed.elbashari@egmont.org, amlc@egmont.org, AMLD@egmont.org, amlo@egmont.org, amlscu@egmont.org, amlu-jordan@egmont.org, andre.kanga@egmont.org, andrey.frolov@egmont.org, annalou.tirol@egmont.org, apml@egmont.org, arsim.fejzullahu@egmont.org, asta.piesinaitezangla@egmont.org, AUSTRAC.HoFIU@egmont.org, austrac.requests@egmont.org, azefms-icd@egmont.org, bahrain-fiu@egmont.org, behar.xhema@egmont.org, Belize-FIU@egmont.org, Berdie.daley@egmont.org, bess.michael@egmont.org, BFIU@egmont.org, bilen.kerga@egmont.org, Bolivia-Requests@egmont.org, Boudewijn.Verhelst@egmont.org, bulgaria-fiu@egmont.org, cayfin@egmont.org, cbsl@egmont.org, centif@egmont.org, centif-benin@egmont.org, centif-ci@egmont.org, centif-mali-correspondence@egmont.org, centif-niger-correspondence@egmont.org, centif.togo@egmont.org, cfci-greece@egmont.org, christiane.ambroise@egmont.org, cicadcr@egmont.org, cifiu@egmont.org, cip-jfiu@egmont.org, 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Dear Nedko Krumov,
Tanzania-FIU supports approval for the project.
Regards,
Tanzania-FIU
**Letter to all IEWG members**
Dear IEWG members,
We hope this email finds you well.
We would like to inform you that last week FATF RTMG discussed and approved new work on digital transformation for AML/CFT purposes. Through case studies, this project will identify the available tools, essential functionalities, favourable conditions and necessary requirements for digital transformation of AML/CFT and for improving AML/CFT capability and effectiveness, including within existing models or work streams. Ultimately, the guidance should help operational agencies in introducing or incorporating technology into their work streams, allowing a better understanding of ML/TF risks and emerging trends, early detection and disruption of ML/TF activities, as well as seamless and secure information exchange among operational agencies within the public sector or with private sector.
The project aims to raise awareness among operational agencies (including FIUs and LEAs) about the role and the use of digital tools to facilitate:
- solid and sophisticated understanding of ML/TF risks;
- early detection and investigation of ML/TF cases (including cases involving virtual assets);
- secured, effective, and efficient information sharing between public and private sectors; and
- operational resilience (e.g. uninterrupted data collection and analysis despite difficulty in in-situ access).
Ultimately, what this project seeks to achieve is to help operational agencies understand:
- the available solutions, including their functionalities, strengths, and weaknesses; and
- considerations and factors which agencies should take into account when identifying, developing, or procuring these solutions, e.g. cost, workflow, effectiveness, into their AML/CFT work streams.
The project itself will be divided in two phases, namely:
- Phase 1 - Report on Digital Transformation for Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs); and
- Phase 2 - Report on Digital Transformation for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and other issues on information exchange and co-operation, such as detecting virtual assets-related suspicious activities and investigations.
In this context, it should be specifically noted that the abovementioned Phase 1 is directly related to FIUs. In addition, IEWG had a significant previous interest on this topic and has valuable expertise, including from the discussions of the IEWG IT professionals, namely:
- In the past the IEWG had extensive discussions about the role of automation in the STR reporting and prioritization of STRs, the use of technology to support FIU analysis (AI, graph analysis, big data analytics, etc.),
- The Group is currently finalising the Flexible, Consistent Information Exchange Standards project, dedicated to the development of a standardized information request form,
- IEWG discussed this issue during its last virtual meeting in February, where several FIUs expressed their need for further information, and
- One of the other ongoing projects within IEWG on FIU-Fintech cooperation is also exploring issues that may have relevance to the use of new technology.
From all mentioned above can be concluded that the new FATF RTMG project on digital transformation for AML/CFT represents an avenue for further cooperation with the FATF and enhancement of the FIU knowledge on the topic. Therefore, the Egmont Group suggested to have the Phase 1 (dedicated to FIUs) of this new project on digital transformation for AML/CFT purposes as a joint work between FATF RTMG and Egmont Group IEWG. This suggestion was approved by both RTMG and the FATF Plenary. The project Phase 1 is expected to commence immediately and be finalised by October 2021.
In order to accommodate this new join project in its Business Plan, the IEWG leadership is suggesting to expend the scope FIU-Fintech Cooperation project with additional work stream (work stream 2). This new work stream 2 will be specifically created to accommodate the needs of the joint FATF/Egmont Group work on digital transformation and will not interfere with the other objectives/timelines as described in the FIU-Fintech Cooperation Concept Note (which will remain within work stream 1). Similar approach was previously taken within the Laundromats project, where as work stream 3 we had embedded the joint FATF/Egmont Group project on TBML.
The new work stream 2 of the FIU-Fintech Cooperation project will be supported by the EGS and FIU The Netherlands, and will be finalised with the completion of the joint work on digital transformation in October 2021. Other IEWG member FIUs are also encouraged to join.
With the current email, we would like to kindly ask for your support to approve this amendment of the scope of the FIU-Fintech Cooperation project, and embed as new work stream 2, the joint work with the FATF RTMG on digital transformation for AML/CFT purposes. Your feedback is expected by March 12th, 2021. As usual, no reply would be considered as tacit approval of the suggested approach.
Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards,
IEWG
P.S.: Please be aware that today, March 1st, the FATF Secretariat has sent a call for case collection on the topic of digital transformation (for the joint project with Egmont Group). This request may either go directly to your FIU through the FATF mailing list (for FATF members), or through the respective FSRB (for all other FIUs). You are kindly encouraged to participate and consider sending cases to the FATF. Regardless, if this joint project would be approved from the IEWG side, the IEWG will send another (different) call for information collection that would be conducted from the Egmont Group angle and information needs.