Here are the top Anti-Financial Crime and AML stories this week:
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ANNOUNCEMENT:?EUROGROUP President Paschal Donohoe is to?deliver?the opening address at the 'European Anti-Financial Crime Summit' in Dublin on May 25 next, it’s been announced.?
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Mr Donohoe - who is Ireland's Minister for Public Expenditure - was re-elected Eurogroup President earlier this year and is one of the most powerful figures in EU finance. The Eurogroup is the influential college of EU finance ministers from eurozone countries.
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Germany’s Dr Marcus Pleyer who is deputy DG at the finance ministry and former President of #FATF is also one of the keynote speakers.
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AML Intelligence?also announced Thursday that Suzanne Gunn , Director of Criminal Enforcement at the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) is speaking at the summit. Suzanne leads a multi-disciplinary team comprising members of An Garda Síochána (Ireland’s National Police), forensic accountants, and civil servants.?
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She is Chair of the Economic Crime and Corruption Forum, a member of the Advisory Council Against Economic Crime and Corruption, and the CEA representative to the Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee.
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Other leading figures set to address the summer AFC summit, which is being held in-person, are:
Don’t miss out.
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As an AML Intelligence Newsletter reader we are delighted to offer you a 30% discount on tickets. To avail of this offer use this coupon code EAFCS30OFF. Book your place here today:?EVENT
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Also find the full conference story here:?Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe to deliver Opening Address at ‘European Anti-Financial Crime Summit’ in Dublin on May 25, it’s announced
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SANCTIONS EVASION:?CREDIT Suisse and UBS banks are at the?centre?of a US Justice Department investigation into whether financial professionals helped Russian oligarchs evade sanctions, it's been reported.
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The probe is focused on identifying which bank employees dealt with sanctioned clients and how those clients were vetted.
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Those bankers and advisers may then be subject to further investigation to determine if they broke any laws.
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Read the story here:?Credit Suisse, UBS being probed over whether banks aided Russian oligarchs evade sanctions
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SWITCHING ROLES:?MONEYVAL's executive secretary Igor Nebyvaev has moved to a new position in the Council of Europe, it's been revealed.
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It follows claims in a German tabloid about his father's alleged connections with Russian intelligence.?
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Russian national Nebyvaev has led the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL) since March 2020.
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However, FATF’s decision to suspend Russia last month made it harder for a Russian national to hold down the position.
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It’s been announced that Livia Stoica-Becht, the Council of Europe’s former head of legal cooperation is replacing Nebyvaev as executive secretary of the agency.
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“Igor is a good guy and has always been neutral and never favoured any country,” a leading fincrime figure who worked with him told?AML Intelligence.
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?Read the story here:?MONEYVAL’s Nebyvaev switches roles in Council of Europe; Livia Stoica-Becht becomes new Executive Secretary
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ELITE TEAM CALL-UP:?Europe's top prosecutor, Laura Kovesi has?mooted?the creation of an elite team of highly skilled investigators of financial crime and fraud.
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Ms Kovesi's demand appeared in the annual report published by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), on Wednesday, March 1.
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The EPPO has been signed up to by all EU states except Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, and Sweden.
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Read the story here:?EU’s top prosecutor calls for specialised fincrime investigations team??
?As an AML Intelligence Newsletter reader we are delighted to offer you a 30% discount on tickets for the highly anticipated European Anti-Financial Crime Summit in Dublin on May 25. To avail of this offer use this coupon code EAFCS30OFF. Book your place here today:?EVENT
GAMING FINE:?BRITAIN'S Gambling Commission?fined?32Red and Platinum Gaming with a €7.1M fine for AML and other failings.
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The Commission said the penalty on the online operator owned by Kindred Group Plc was also to include social responsibility failures.?
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"These failures highlight clearly that both operators failed to interact with customers in a way which minimises the risk of them experiencing harms associated with gambling," said Kay Roberts, executive director of the Gambling Commission.
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?Find the piece here:?UK Gambling Commission fines 32Red and Platinum Gaming ￡7M for AML, social responsibility failures
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SANCTIONS INSIGHT:?As head of the Bank of Latvia's anti-money laundering department, Kristaps Markovskis?discusses?sanctions against Russia and the risks they still pose.
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A year has already passed since the first package of the European Union's (EU) sanctions against Russia was adopted in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the war waged in this country.
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During the year, nine more packages were approved, the latest of which entered into force most recently.
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In general, this is a new, unprecedented experience, so it is worth looking back at the progress Latvia has made with regard to the application of sanctions and the main challenges faced.
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Read Kristap’s views here:?A year of sanctions against Russia and the risks still remain high
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AI FEARS:?European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová the?risk?that machines mimic or even worsen human prejudice and racism must be taken seriously. “We have some immediate challenges” when it comes to AI, Ms Jourová said.?
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The Values and Transparency Commissioner said AI “can perpetuate or even stimulate racial bias if data to train algorithms does not reflect the diversity of EU society.”
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Find the story here:?Risk that AI can mimic or even worsen human prejudice, warns European Commissioner
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DANSKE BANK APPOINTS NEW CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER:?Danske Bank appointed?Chief?Audit Executive Dorthe Tolborg as the lender’s new Chief Compliance Officer.?
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She will begin her duties as CCO on June 1, taking up from Satnam Lehal who announced his impending departure some weeks back.??
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Danske has been keen to fill the position given the recent turbulence in the European banking sector and given the uncertainty caused by Credit Suisse’s compliance issues.
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Danske has had its own well-recorded historic compliance problems which it hopes it has put behind it with a record fine and settlement with the US DOJ and its own Danish regulator.
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Find the story here:?Danske Bank appoints Dorthe Tolborg as new Chief Compliance Officer
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ANALYSIS:?UBS Group emerged as Switzerland’s one and only global bank with a state-backed?rescue?of its smaller peer Credit Suisse, a risky bet that makes the Swiss economy more dependent on a single lender.
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The unprecedented move announced late on Sunday in Zurich capped a race against time by regulators to avert a meltdown in global markets.
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Switzerland is pledging more than 160 billion francs ($173 billion) in loans and guarantees to underpin the new group, guarding against further risks undermining the lender.
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The transaction – the first rescue of a global bank since the financial crisis of 2008 – grants enormous clout to UBS, ridding it of its main rival.
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It will change the landscape of banking in Switzerland, where branches of Credit Suisse and UBS are dotted everywhere, sometimes just metres apart.
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Read the story here:?UBS swallows doomed Credit Suisse, casting shadow over Switzerland
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HIGH-RISK LIST:?FINANCIAL HUBS Dubai and Gibraltar have been added to the EU's?designation?of high-risk third countries.
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?The European Commission made the official designations on March 16. The announcement will not be a surprise and follows the greylisting of the United Arab Emirates and Gibraltar earlier by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
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The listing identified high-risk third countries which have strategic deficiencies in their regime on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
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Find the story here:?Financial hubs Dubai and Gibraltar added to EU’s list of ‘high risk third countries’ with strategic AML weakness
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SLOW IMPLEMENTATION:?DEUTSCHE Bank's CEO Christian Sewing and his top team took a ￡1M?hit?to their annual bonus when the supervisory board issued a rare rebuke over delays in improving internal controls.
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Deutsche is in the crosshairs of German regulator BaFin over the sluggish implementation of required AML reforms.
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The bank's annual report released today (Friday) says the lender met 27 per cent of targets related to control environments and 50 per cent of its AML and KYC remediation activities.
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As a result, the bank met just 64% of its wider environment, social and governance targets.?
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Read the story here:?Sluggish implementation of AML reforms at Deutsche Bank leaves C-Suite top 10 with €1M hit to bonuses
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CONFISCATION:?BRITAIN’S Serious Fraud Office (SFO) can?seize?more than $8 million of illicit cash linked to a massive Brazilian corruption scandal involving state-run oil company Petrobras, a London court ruled today (Friday).
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The SFO successfully applied to confiscate $7.7 million and 700,000 pounds held in the London bank account of former Petrobras employee Mario Ildeu de Miranda, who was jailed in Brazil in relation to the long-running Operation Car Wash corruption probe.
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The agency said the sum is the largest amount ever seized by the SFO from a single bank account. Find the story here:?UK’s SFO confiscates more than $8M from ex-Petrobras employee guilty of money laundering
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PAYPAL UNDERTAKING:?AUSTRALIA'S financial crime regulator said it accepted an?enforceable?undertaking from payments giant PayPal Holdings' local unit to ensure its compliance with the country's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
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In 2019, AUSTRAC, which is tasked with ensuring compliance with the laws, ordered PayPal Australia Pty Ltd to appoint an external auditor to look at fund transfers after the regulator identified concerns with its reporting obligations.
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"PayPal Australia self-identified a reporting obligation issue to AUSTRAC. We have fully co-operated with AUSTRAC throughout their investigation…" a PayPal Australia spokesperson said.
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Read the story here:?Australian regulator accepts PayPal unit’s undertaking for money laundering laws
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MEP WARNING:?A TOP MEP has?warned?that Ireland's non-membership of the European Public Prosecutors Office makes the country vulnerable to organised crime.
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Billy Kelleher has said that Irish police (An Garda Siochana) and other state agencies need to be alert to the possibility of European crime gangs moving their operations to Ireland because the country hasn't signed up to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) system.
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Kelleher was commenting after the EPPO’s Chief Prosecutor delivered remarks at a joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Justice and Budget committees this morning in Brussels.
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Read the full story here:?EU crime gangs may move operations to Ireland due to non-membership of EPPO?
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Have a great Wednesday??
Alisha and the team at AMlintelligence.
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