Compliance report ready as FATF meeting approaches – Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: The next meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is scheduled to be held in Paris from October 12 to 15 and Pakistan has already prepared its compliance report, which will be presented by the Minister of Economic Affairs Division, Hammad Azhar.

The Pakistani delegation plans to leave for France on October 13, as the case of Pakistan will be addressed on October 14 and 15.

Meanwhile, a report finalized by the Pakistan Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP) on Wednesday said the comprehensive guideline developed by the Commission has helped financial institutions generate 219 suspicious transaction reports (RTS) in a year, in comparison with 13 RTS in eight years

To align with the FATF standards and its 40 recommendations, the Commission developed a set of regulations – SECP ALP / CFT regulations – in June 2018.

The SECP has carried out 167 inspections, focusing on compliance AML / CFT (fight against money laundering / fight against terrorism) in the cases of 72 securities brokers, 27 non-bank financial companies, 13 insurance companies and 55 high-risk nonprofit organizations. .

The SECP report says that, in addition to the penalties imposed for non-compliance with these regulations, financial institutions have also taken corrective measures to ensure effective compliance with the regulations.

Many financial institutions have implemented automated detection software to examine outlaws and regulated entities now also have access to the Go AML system of the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for online submission of the RTS.

According to the report, the SECP has successfully transitioned from a single approach for all to a risk-based approach to implement a consolidated AML / CFT regulatory framework in its regulated financial sector that includes stock and commodity brokers, NBFC, Modaras and insurers / operators of Takaful.

In addition to effectively identifying and understanding the money laundering / terrorist financing (ML / FT) risks faced by Pakistan, a National LD ​​/ FT Risk Assessment was conducted in 2019 to assess the ML / FT vulnerabilities that They are inherent in the financial sector, including banking, NBFC, brokers and insurance.

The SECP has said that the FMU is collaborating with stakeholders, including ministries, law enforcement agencies, SBP and SECP, to implement the control mechanism to verify possible abuse by money launderers and the terrorists of terrorism.

The report says that continuous campaigns and awareness efforts have resulted in an improvement in the level of compliance by regulated entities.

Posted on Dawn, October 10, 2019