Archive

Financial intelligence units (FIUs) may all have the same role to play under FATF guidance, notably its Recommendation 29 on FIUs, but these keystones of AML/CFT/CFP are far from equal, with resources varying greatly through government resources and policy.

FATF says FIUs must be a national centre for the receipt and analysis of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and other information linked to ML, associated predicate offences and terrorist/proliferation financing, and disseminate that analysis. FIUs should be able to obtain additional information from obliged entities, and access relevant financial, administrative and law enforcement data.…

While quantum computers have still yet to break standard cryptography that has protected financial systems for decades, the leading authority certifying such security has said the private and public sector needs to start preparing for breaches now.

The USA-based National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last November (2024) released a report saying it would formally advise against the use (‘deprecate’) of certain existing digital signature algorithms from 2030 – ECDSA, EdDSA and the RSA (1). It will do the same for certain key-establishment schemes – Finite Field DH and MQV; Elliptic Curve DH and MQC; and RSA.…

Brazil is trying to improve its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) system with stronger penalties and more supervision, but some gaps remain.

Brazil, which is among the countries with the highest alerts (1.36 million in 2023) for financial crimes involving shell companies, as per the Moody’s Shell Company Indicator quoted by CNN (1), “has made important strides to improve” its  Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) system and “is achieving some positive results”, but still “needs to strengthen cooperation and coordination between certain authorities and improve prosecution”, warned the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2023 (2).…

At busy social times, maintaining good boundaries and taking care of your needs when in close quarters with family and friends while detaching fully from work and study is of critical importance to wellbeing.

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Türkiye is one of the top 10 milk producers worldwide, according to the Turkish National Dairy Council (Ulusal Süt Konseyi - USK) but the country’s dairy sector has been impacted over the past two years by high inflation and the depreciation of the Turkish lira (1). Production is slowly rebounding, with demand driven by the country’s growing population and new export markets.  

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Ukrainian authorities, with the support of their European counterparts, are working to rid Ukraine of its former corrupt past – they are having mixed success. Dylan Carter reports. 

While Ukraine battles an invading Russian enemy currently occupying approximately 18% of Ukrainian territory (1), it is also focused on its battle with the ‘enemy within’, namely elevated levels of corruption and other commercial crime. 

Since the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Ukraine’s pro-Western authorities have worked tirelessly to align themselves with European Union (EU) anti-corruption and anti-fraud efforts, notably establishing the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) in 2014, which prepares corruption cases for prosecution by a Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.…

Major companies in China are under tightening scrutiny for accounting fraud, with major audit firms facing punishing penalties for turning blind eyes. Keith Nuthall, Jens Kastner and Sara Lewis report. 

The Chinese auditing unit of accounting giant PwC has been fined a record Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY441 million (USD62.7 million) and banned from auditing in mainland China for six months after a regulator concluded it had “covered up and even condoned” fraud.…

Confectionery and related ingredient sales between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur countries of south America are set to rise after a trade agreement between the two blocs was finalised. A deal in principle had been held over since 2019 while details were ironed out, but these have now been resolved.…

Financial institutions, social media platforms and regulators are meeting to boost data sharing and collaboration to counter the international surge in fraud. Paul Cochrane reports on the Global Anti-Scam Summit (GASS) Americas 2024.

 

Fraud is on an upward trajectory, with an estimated USD1.03 trillion lost globally to swindles over the past year, according to the 2024 Global State of Scams report by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and anti-fraud tech company Feedzai (1).…

The UK countryside is not generally regarded as a cradle of innovation. However, business data and the increased visibility of rural business thanks to social media indicate that countryside entrepreneurship is emerging as a major contributor to the domestic start-up sector.…