Search Results for: Colombia

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

INFORMATION technology innovations and especially the Internet have certainly changed the anti-money laundering and compliance officials share, store and access information, but as high-tech solutions become more streamlined and interconnected, one concern that still arises is security. Such concerns are increasingly being voiced as regards cloud computing, whose bulk remote digital muscle is regarded as attractive by financial institutions in boosting their work against money laundering and terrorist financing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HIGH sugar prices and tight supplies are a constant worry for confectionery manufacturers this year, and the European Union (EU) has been trying to keep these problems under control. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that global prices rose 81.4% from last July (2010) to this January (2011) and the EU has taken action.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

Students resist Colombia university liberalisation plans

Pacifica Goddard

University students across Colombia are in an uproar over their government’s reform plans for the country’s reform of higher education, which would allow universities to make profits and encourage them to forge partnerships with the private sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has drawn a curtain over the longest running trade dispute in the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) history – approving December 2009 deals on reducing EU banana import tariffs. These had been struck with the USA, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela solving complaints the EU unfairly favoured Caribbean island banana exports with quota and tariffs.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

FOR those doubters who claim the world’s senior anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) organisation the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) does not have much clout, a look at the case of Ecuador makes instructive reading. Last February, the Paris-basedFATF issued a stinging criticism of this South American country, with a public statement officially listing Ecuador as a country with serious AML/CFT deficiencies, along with such dubious fellow travellers as Angola, Ethiopia and North Korea.…

BY NADJA DROST

THE SURGING price of gold has unleashed a gold rush in Colombia, and international criminal networks are using the burgeoning trade in the precious metal to clean the proceeds of crime. In a country with as intimate a connection with the illicit drugs trade and terrorism as Colombia, the risks posed to anti-money laundering authorities are significant.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

DEFINING a niche drink is an arbitrary matter and what may pass as niche today may well be considered mainstream tomorrow. Flavoured vodka, for instance, had a relatively specialised following in Europe until a few years ago – now it is classified as an official spirit drink under European Union (EU) regulations.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD, KARRYN MILLER, GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE, KEITH NUTHALL

FOR niche spirits, obscure can be good – and so products made in countries not renowned for their spirits production can gather export market cache. Latin America and the Caribbean are regions where effort by buyers can pay dividends.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) has promised US dollar USD20 million in financing to Alquería, a leading dairy producer in Colombia, to help it expand into Colombia’s low-income and remote consumer markets.

The IFC has offered USD15 million as a senior loan as well as USD5 million in equity to modernise the dairy producer’s facilities, improve efficiency and develop new affordable, highly nutritious children’s dairy products.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

THE ORGANIC cosmetics market has been booming over the last few years, generating substantial consumer interest in the US and Europe. As cosmetics companies scramble to offer the latest, most effective natural ingredients, many are turning to the biodiverse region of Latin America for inspiration.…