Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY HELPS TRACK OIL MOVEMENTS AMIDST MARKET CHAOS
TECHNOLOGY developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) is helping bring some stability to today’s chaotic oil market, by delivering satellite images of storage depots that tell traders exactly how much oil is currently in storage worldwide. These photographs analysed by partner companies such as London-based digital oil analytics company OilX and natural resources research company Terrabotics, also based in the UK capital, provide updated market assessments, helping traders fix a realistic price, reducing the risk of an oil supply glut.…
NEW TECH MAY HELP AML PROBES, BUT THEY ALSO INCREASE VULNERABILITIES FOR COMPLIANCE SYSTEMS
While new financial technologies and associated developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence offer AML/CFT solutions, anti-money laundering specialists are concerned about new risks being posed by new business and industrial innovations.
Banks are starting to adopt AI-based machine learning, but terrorists and criminals can use technology too: “It is really an AI arms race in financial crime”, said Kamer Yüksel, chief data scientist for Munich-based artificial intelligence start-up hawk:AI’s and author of more than 35 publications on AI.…
USA STILL NON-COMPLIANT WITH SOME KEY FATF RECOMMENDATIONS, LATEST PROGRESS REPORT CONFIRMS
THE UNITED States has made slow but steady progress in improving its AML/CFT protections since it last received a detailed assessment from FATF in 2016, according to the global AML body – although it warns that the USA remains non-compliant with four FATF recommendations and partially-compliant with five.…
EY MUST PAY DUBAI ML WHISTLEBLOWER USD11 MILLION DAMAGES
Big four accountancy firm, EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young) is to pay more than USD11 million in damages to a former partner that blew the whistle on the company’s collusion in covering up money laundering by a Dubai-based client Kaloti Jewellery International.…
ONLINE PLATFORMS AGREE TO EU CALL TO STOP COVID-19 SCAMS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has said online retail platforms selling into the European Union (EU) had “showed strong commitment and responded positively” to its March 23 call to stop COVID-19 scams and protect consumers. Allegro, Amazon, AliExpress, Bing, Cdiscount, eBay, Facebook, Google, Rakuten, Wish and Yahoo!…
EUROJUST STEPS UP EUROPEAN JUDICIAL ACTION AGAINST CROSS BORDER CRIME
Judicial authorities across the European Union (EU) are increasingly turning to the European Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) for help to combat serious cross-border crime, according to the EU agency’s 2019 annual report. Published April 14, it shows that Eurojust tackled nearly 8,000 cases last year, an 17% increase compared to 2018, split between 3,892 new cases and 3,912 ongoing from previous years.…
DEEP-FAKE TECH OFFERS FRAUDSTERS A NEW TOOL TO FOOL COMPANIES, GOVERNMENTS AND INDIVIDUALS
While most so-called ‘deep-fake’ technologies today have been used to spread fake images, videos and voice recordings of politicians, famous actresses and other public figures, a publicly-reported case emerged last year [2019] in which this advanced technology was leveraged to enhance cybercrimes such as financial fraud, identify theft, ransom and extortion requests, espionage and business email compromise scams.…
UK CYBER SECURITY BREACHES AND ATTACKS INCREASING – EVEN BEFORE THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Businesses have in 2020 and 2019 been experiencing more frequent cyber breaches or attacks than they were in 2017, according to the British government’s official Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020, with 32% of businesses (compared to 22% in 2017) and 22% of charities that reported attacks experiencing these issues at least once a week in 2020 and 2019.…
AMERICAS JURISDICTIONS BUILD WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS, BUT AT VARYING SPEEDS
THE ROLE of whistleblowers in the Americas has been given special attention in since last August, when an intelligence officer lodged a complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General about a phone call by President Donald Trump to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky pressuring him to open an investigation into alleged corruption by former vice-president Joe Biden.…
BRAZILIAN ANTI-GRAFT TZAR QUITS BOLSONARO GOVERNMENT
Brazil’s graft-busting justice minister Sergio Moro has resigned from President Jair Bolsonaro’s government, accusing him of meddling in federal police efforts to fight corruption for political gain. Moro stood down April 24 after Bolsonaro fired the federal police chief, Maurício Valeixo, because newspaper, Correio Braziliense claims an investigation into fake news and anti-democracy protests was homing in on the President’s son, Carlos Bolsonaro.…