Egmont Group Webinars on FinTech with a focus on Virtual Assets/Virtual Assets Service Providers and Mobile Payment Services

When adopting the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan, the Heads of Egmont Group FIUs acknowledged the positive potential of new technologies (e.g. FinTech) and monetary instruments (e.g. crypto-currencies) in changing the financial landscape. Unregulated sectors and actors operating in the virtual space, for which little is known about their modus operandi and their impact on ML/TF activities, deploy effective means of hiding the identity of individuals involved in financial transactions. To address with this new reality, FIUs must understand these factors and their impact on future financial flows. 

On July 8th to 9th, the Heads of Egmont Group FIUs will convene in a series of four webinars to share expertise and strategically discuss how to equip FIUs with knowledge and expertise to better tackle the ML/TF risks associated with VAs/VASPs/MPS and to rapidly provide the widest range of international cooperation. There will be 2 webinars of 1.5 hours each day. The following topics will be covered:

• Introduction to VAs and VASPs: terminology, AML/CFT regime vulnerabilities stemming from VAs, the revised FATF standards and their impact on the FIUs’ interactions with VASPs sector. (July 8th at 8:00AM EST)
• Operational aspects associated with VAs: blockchain or other technology analyses, information gaps, expertise requirements, IT tools, etc. (July 8th at 10:00 AM EST)
• Domestic and International Cooperation on ML/TF Cases Through VAs or VASPs: challenges and best practices. (July 9th at 8:00AM EST)
• Vulnerabilities of mobile payment services (MPS) to ML/TF: FIU challenges and best practices. (July 9th at 10:00AM EST)

The FIUs from Israel, Germany, South Africa and the United States of America graciously offered to moderate the discussions. In addition to FIU experts, representatives from academia and the private sector will present during the webinars.

From July 7th – 09th, the ECOFEL team will be organising several virtual operational training sessions on the following topics:

1. The role of the FIUs in national ML/TF risk assessments: Lessons learned (July 7)

• This training session will clarify the role of FIUs in National Risk Assessments and provide important information on successes, failures and lessons learned.

2. COVID-19 – Best Practices for FIUs (July 8)

• This training session will help FIUs to build knowledge and acquire a better understanding of the risks and challenges posed by COVID-19.

3. Illegal Wildlife Trade as a Financial Crime (July 9)

• This co-delivered training session by FATF and ECOFEL will help FIUs to better understand, identify and investigate financial flows related to Illegal Wildlife Trade.

ECOFEL’s subject matter experts will answer every question you may have during these training sessions. 

The ECOFEL virtual operational training sessions will be accessible on the ECOFEL eLearning platform at 10:00 am EST for all FIU staff.

If you haven’t registered yourself for the eLearning platform yet, please do so here: https://learn.ecofel.org

Egmont Group