ICC Qatar is going to have a seminar on money laundering and terrorist financing

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Qatar is conducting a compliance awareness seminar on January 28 at the Qatar Chamber. This seminar intends to highlight the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding. 

The seminar is titled “The Development in the Fight Against Money Laundering & Financing of Terrorism” and organized in collaboration with Refinitiv – renowned for the world’s largest provider of financial market data. ICC Qatar stated that “2020 will be an important year for Qatar” in its press statement. This year the country will be going through an evaluation by the international watchdog, Financial Action Task force (FATF).

This one-day seminar aims to focus on the latest developments in global AML/CFT compliance and regulations, and the fight against money laundering and terrorist funding in the non-banking institutes. Moreover, the seminar will highlight the various best practices that can facilitate the organizations to effectively mitigate these types of threats and risks by applying the required approach/solution.

The ICC Qatar secretary-general and Qatar Chamber board member Dr. Khalid Klefeekh al-Hajri said in their statement, 

“Qatar has made great strides in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, noting that this was obvious by the issuance of the laws.”

Al-Hajri emphasized on the importance of these laws that how they are in accordance with the latest international standards adopted by major organizations and reflect Qatar’s commitment to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in every form.

In his press statement, he said,

“Qatar’s achievements are the result of combined efforts exerted by all competent bodies, ministries, and other government agencies that are members of the National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee, which is responsible for protecting Qatar’s financial system from the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing,” 

Refinitiv director of Business Development and Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), Mohamed Daoud who is one of the organizers of this seminar stated that many non-financial institutes have this wrong perception that AML/CFT regulations are for the banks and financial sectors only.

“A key shortcoming identified by FATF across many jurisdictions in Mena is the role of designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) in failing short of FATF expectations.”

Daoud noted that in recent years evaluation reports of several countries that DNFBPs such as real estate agents, cross-border trading and shippings, metal/stone dealers, and some other non-financial organizations have limited or sometimes no proper understanding of AML/CFT regulation and the risk that can emerge from the lack of compliance.

In the new round of FATF evaluations, many countries are being cautious because it is not focusing on technical compliance but also on the effectiveness of deployment. Daoud pointed out

“The fourth round of mutual evaluations from FATF is a key changer as it is not anymore focusing on technical compliance and whether country laws and regulations have been amended and are in place in accordance with the 40 recommendations, but also a high focus on the effectiveness of the deployment of the regulations which proves to be very challenging for many countries.”