EAG Secretariat participates in the 30th Egmont Group Plenary Meetings

This year’s event was attended by 400 delegates including 15 observer organisations who gathered to improve global collaboration in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The EG is now boasts 177 members following the acceptance of the FIUs from Suriname, Maldives, and Liberia as members of the organisation.

This year’s 30th Plenary focused on the central theme “The Next Generation FIU”. In this frame, 3 sub-topics were addressed:

Session 1 – Developing the future workforce of the FIU. Focusing on the evolving role and responsibilities of FIUs, in the global AML/CFT environment, the panel explored ideas of how to build and evolve FIUs, both as effective AML/CTF system leaders and fulfilling environments for the staff working within them. ​

Session 2 – How will the future FIU use technology? The new strategic approaches related to the implementation of Emerging Technologies provide FIUs with the opportunity to enhance their effectiveness. ​

Session 3 – Future FIU’s role in addressing emerging crime types. The final session focused on emerging financial criminal activities, such as laundering of the proceeds of environmental and tax crime; and explored with a distinguished panel the FIU´s role in the early identification and addressing of these crimes.

The following project was also received final Heads of Financial Intelligence Units (HoFIU) endorsement:

• Information Exchange Working Group’s (IEWG) Project Report on Effective Analytical Tools and Cloud-Based Services for FIUs.

Other highlights of the 30th Egmont Plenary:

• Many delegates participated in a Best Egmont Case Award (BECA) contest (winner - FIU Peru, runner-up - FIU Guatemala), Egmont Centre of FIU Excellence and Leadership (ECOFEL) Workshop and Operational Training sessions, including a Joint Information Exchange and Technical Assistance and Training Working Groups’ (TATWG) Workshop on Abuse of NPOs for TF purposes and an IT-specific workshop.
• During the joint session, IEWG and TATWG presented a comprehensive e-learning training package and video on the topic of Countering Trade Based and Service Based Money Laundering and Misuse of Corporate Structures.
• The HoFIU approved the status of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) as an Egmont Group Observer Organization.
• The HoFIU developed a new biennial census which is a tool for enhancing information exchange with member FIUs.

The organization selected Elzbieta Frankow-Jaskiewicz, Deputy Director of the Department of Financial Information (Polish FIU), as the new EG Chair and Mr. Mohammed Shahid Ahmed, Deputy-Director and the Chief of Staff, FIU Nigeria, as the new EG Vice-Chair, for a two-year term.

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