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

Richard Marley
January 20, 2020
3 minutes read
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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.”

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Latest News

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ASIC Expands its Team to Enhance Cryptocurrency Regulations
Australia’s financial regulator has enhanced the size of its crypto team. The crypto regulatory measures include their application for financial services licenses and show that specific crypto platforms have particular liquidity in reserve.

After shifting popular blockchain from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system, ASIC, Australia’s financial regulator, has increased the size of its crypto team.

U.S. Security and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler stated that PoS-based tokens might be classified as securities.

The decision of ASIC to keep PoS tokens for example Ethereum, Cardano and Solana under its remit will further clarify the situation and enable crypto regulations to be more effective. To cope with the latest regulatory reforms, the crypto exchange must either delist the tokens or start complying with robust crypto laws.

Such moves may force a few crypto firms to manage their operating models. Even the largest stablecoin of the crypto market, Tether, has been caught in a controversy created over the failure of holding enough dollar reserves to back the stablecoin.

The crypto regulatory measures include their application for financial services licenses and show that these platforms have particular liquidity in reserve.

The final decision by the regulator has not been issued yet. Greg Yanco, the executive director for marketers, said that ASIC won’t be a “cheerleader for crypto assets.”

SEC Newgate carried out research the last November. It showed that 44% of Australian retail investors reported holding crypto. Out of these investors, only 20% viewed crypto as high-risk.

The chairperson of ASIC responded and said that the regulators were “concerned that there are limited protections for crypto-asset investments given they have become increasingly mainstream and are heavily advertised and promoted. There is a strong case for regulating crypto-assets to better protect investors.”

According to Yanco, until the last year, cryptocurrency was not such a high priority. Still, due to the decline of cryptocurrency in the previous few years and investors wiped out around the globe, ASIC expanded its team. It made crypto one of its “core strategic projects.”

Suggested Read: Regulatory Authorities to File a New Bill to Secure the Citizens from Cyber Criminal Activities

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The emerging technologies have not only helped businesses to secure their operations but also encouraged fraudsters to use more advanced techniques of exploiting loopholes in systems. The majority of digital service providers like Payoneer, Paypal, Amazon, Walmart, and many others have implemented stringent regulations to verify the documents of their users but traditional methods are not serving the purpose of authenticating the true identities of customers. In the UK alone, consumers lost £1.3 billion in 2021 which is 27% more compared to the previous year. Undoubtedly, it can be established that prevailing document verification measures are not efficient enough to curb sophisticated fraud methods used by criminals. The whole system is in dire need of forensic authentication which is more advanced and has all capacity to counter scammers.

All the digital service providers particularly financial companies, educational institutions, and immigration departments are at high risk of document fraud. The criminals use forged documents to claim funds, admissions to universities, or entry to foreign countries. By implementing standards of forensic forgery detection, all online businesses can secure their onboarding system with very less risks of scams. The forensic authentication of documents involves scientific techniques to verify the identities of users leaving no room for criminals.

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Forensic document verification involves incorporation of scientific rules in examining the authenticity of records. There are experts in this field who carry out all the operations using specialized methods. Nowadays, the use of forensics is rising, especially in courts where no document is accepted without authentication. By using several techniques like handwriting identification, ultraviolet light sources, microscopes, photography, and infrared imaging in the laboratories, a document is verified. All the major jurisdictions have formed dedicated institutions which overlook the process of document verification. The American Board of Forensic Document Examiners (ABFDE) is the primary authoritative body responsible for monitoring forensic operations in the US, and any person carrying out these activities anywhere in the country must be a member of this board.

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The prevailing traditional methods of document verification have encouraged criminals to exploit loopholes in systems inflicting financial losses on users. In the recent past, several cases have surfaced where scammers try to manipulate documents resulting in credit card fraud, illegal immigration, fake admissions to international universities, and many others. Let’s have a look at some of the high-profile cases of document fraud in different countries.

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European Police conducted a raid this year dismantling a criminal network involved in forgery and dissemination of counterfeit documents. The gang was using fake identities and helping people to apply for immigration in several European countries. The Police have seized 362 forged documents including ID cards, residence permits, passports, and asylum papers which were used in carrying out illicit activities. The law enforcement authorities have stated that criminals had support from other countries and investigations are still going on to catch all culprits.

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Canada

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Australia

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What Shufti Pro Offers?

Shufti Pro’s state-of-the-art identity verification services can help online businesses implement a robust solution against document fraud. Combating financial crimes through efficient record authentication will secure the identities of users and ensure compliance with global regulatory standards. Powered by thousands of AI algorithms Shufti Pro’s KYC solution uses advanced techniques like OCR and forensic document examination to verify documents in real-time. It generates output in less than a second with 98.67% accuracy.

Want to know more about forensic forgery analysis of documents for digital businesses?

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

Forensic Document Verification – A New Standard

How Forensic Document Verification is Carried Out?

High-Profile Crime Cases of Document Fraud

Gang Arrested for Printing Fake Documents in Greece

Criminal Network Busted for Distributing Fake Documents

Regulatory Authorities Monitoring Document Fraud

Canada

Australia

Document Forgery Forensic Authentication – Ensuring KYC Compliance

What Shufti Pro Offers?

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Let’s prove your customer’s

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