More efforts needed to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing

Dubai: Although the Middle East has achieved substantial progress in thwarting money laundering and terrorist financing activities, targeted financial measures by the banking and financial institutions and the dialogue between the public and private sectors should be continued and enhanced in the face of increasing complexity and sophistication of the twin threats.

That was the message of a group of panellists on the opening day of the Third US-Mena Private Sector Dialogue conference on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism (AML-CFT) on Wednesday.

The conference brings together the banking and financial institutions and the regulators of the Mena region and the US.

According to KPMG's Global Anti-Money Laundering Survey 2007, the amount of money laundered globally exceeds $1 trillion.

"We tend to believe that for an effective AML-CFT regime, there should be close collaboration between financial institutions, regulators, law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities," said Abdul Rahim Mohammad Al Awadi, assistant executive director and head of the anti-money laundering and suspicious cases unit in the UAE Central Bank.

Al Wadi said that with the banking sector growing considerably in recent years, there is a need to review the AML-CFT risks involved. "In as much as the Central Bank endeavours to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, there is always room for improvement."

Patrick O'Brien, Assistant Secretary of Terrorist Fin-ancing and Financial Crimes in the US Treasury Department, said: "Private-public dialogue on AML-CFT best practices is essential to promoting the transparency and efficacy of the global financial system... the work of the public and private sectors is having real, tangible success in mitigating threats to the international financial system."

Commenting on the region's efforts, O'Brien said that it's a newer process in the Gulf, and so it needs to mature. But in certain areas, such as developing international standards in expanding the legal framework as well as in enhancing financial investigation capacity to incorporate control, progress has been significant. In an increasingly globalising world, it is now in areas such as trade finance where the focus should be, he added.

"The government in its turn must initiate an effective working partnership with the private sector to work in partnership to achieve the key themes of the needed vision for the AML-CFT regime around the globe," said Union of Arab Banks chairman Adnan Ahmad Yousuf.