May ’19 – Jun ’19 Issue

Issue 1.1 Acams Today Europe

Issue: Vol. 1 No. 1 – ACAMS Today Europe

Featured

From the Director of Editorial Content

Catch the Bad Guys, Avoid a Penalty: Can compliance have it all?

Welcome to the first issue of ACAMS Today Europe. ACAMS Today launched in 2002 as a membership benefit of a newly formed United States-based association of anti-money laundering (AML) professionals.

From the Editor

Renaissance

At 19 years old, I set out on an adventure and lifelong dream—to see Europe. Armed with my backpack and everything I thought necessary to survive a six-week excursion to the continent…


Inside this Edition

A Smorgasbord of Regulations

Blockchain technology offers a wide array of solutions that challenge traditional business models but this innovation needs updated governance policies to balance efficiency and public safety.


Fintech: Friend or foe to anti-financial crime?

Fintechs are digital bank accounts and e-wallet services. There are more and more digital players in the market offering payment accounts, money pots or remittances services.


Emerging Sanctions Challenges for Global Counter-Terrorism

With the attack on the village of Baghouz near the border between Syria and Iraq, Islamic State (IS)1 is about to lose the last territorial stronghold in the Middle East.2 This will end the recent tragic history of control over territory in the region from this terrorist organisation.

SARs Analysis on the Criminal Use of the Gaming (Casino) Sector

A recent report written by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) examined the link between criminality and gambling. The MPS report analysed 250 suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted by the gaming (casino) sector and other reporting sectors.


The Rise of Cloud in Compliance

The last 18 years have seen financial institutions (FIs) create and deploy money laundering detection and prevention defences in response to regulatory demands. The means by which FIs achieve this task have stayed the same for decades.

An Inspection of the Real Estate Sector in Germany

Germany’s real estate industry is one of the largest economic sectors of the country, with 817,000 companies and around 3 million registered employees in 2017. In 2016, the entire sector was valued at around €500 billion, representing a contribution of 18.2 percent to the growth of the entire economy.

Prost to the ACAMS Germany Chapter

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) launched its Germany Chapter in late 2016. Since then, the chapter has hosted approximately 20 events across the country at its main hubs in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. The networking events, which draw between 50 to 100 participants…


Celebrating the ACAMS Cyprus Chapter

The ACAMS Cyprus Chapter recently celebrated its third birthday at a great venue in Nicosia! The special networking event hosted a number of members, regulators, law enforcement, as well as friends and supporters of the chapter.

Annika Brunned, CAMS—Stockholm, Sweden

Annika Brunned is a compliance officer at Handelsbanken and head of the compliance international department covering Handelsbanken branches in Germany, Luxembourg, the Baltics, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and the United States.


Katarina Cook, CAMS—London, UK

Katarina Cook works as head of compliance and money laundering reporting officer for Europe Arab Bank in London. With a degree in Russian and political science, the move into the financial industry may not have seemed like the obvious choice for Cook.


Audrey Milesi, CAMS—Neuheim, Switzerland

Audrey Milesi lived and worked in Austria, Germany and London before moving to Switzerland in 2007. She began her career as an external auditor before moving to transaction services/mergers and acquisitions in the Big Four and transitioning into the industry.


Sandijs Vectēvs, CAMS—Riga, Latvia

After 15 years in the financial sector, Sandijs Vectēvs returned to law enforcement in the area of financial intelligence. Prior to managing the analytical compartment of the Latvian financial intelligence unit, Vectēvs gained professional experience in various fields.


Annalise Vineer, CAMS—London, UK

Annalise Vineer commenced her career in insurance, dealing with fraud and contentious claims. Due to the complexity and litigious nature of her work, she undertook an advanced diploma in insurance to enhance her professional qualifications, knowledge and credibility.

The Intersection of AI in Financial Crime Compliance

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest technology to take the compliance community by storm when it comes to reducing false alerts in both anti-money laundering (AML) and international sanctions screening programs.

Risky Business: 5AMLD and EDD

The Fifth European Union (EU) Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive (5AMLD) which entered into force on the 9 of July 2018, must be implemented by the EU member states by January 2020. Firms affected by the new directive, obliged entities, face new challenges resulting from the relevant amendments to the Fourth EU AML Directive (4AMLD) of 2015 (implemented in 2017).

Handelsbasierte Geldwäsche–Risikofaktoren und Sorgfaltspflichten

Das seit dem 30. November 1993 in Deutschland geltende Gesetz über das Aufspüren von Gewinnen aus schweren Straftaten (Geldwäschegesetz—GwG) wurde zum 21. August 2008 neu gefasst und später durch das Gesetz zur Optimierung der Geldwäscheprävention (Geldwäscheoptimierungsgesetz—GwOptG) geändert, welches am 29.


Ein Sammelsurium von Vorschriften

Blockchain-Technologie bietet eine breite Palette von Lösungen, die herkömmliche Geschäftsmodelle in Frage stellen. Diese Innovation bedarf jedoch aktualisierter Governance-Richtlinien…


Fintech: Freund oder Feind bei der Aufdeckung von Finanzkriminalität?

Fintechs sind Anbieter digitaler Bankkonten und E-Wallets. Eine zunehmende Anzahl von Marktakteuren bietet Zahlungskonten, Geldtöpfe oder Überweisungsdienste auf digitaler Grundlage an.


Riskante Geschäfte: 5AMLD und die verstärkte Sorgfaltspflicht

Die fünfte Anti-Geldwäsche-Richtlinie der Europäischen Union (5AMLD) wurde am 9. Juli 2018 verabschiedet und muss bis zum Januar 2020 von allen EU-Mitgliedstaaten umgesetzt werden. Von der neuen Richtlinie betroffene Unternehmen, sogenannte Verpflichtete…

Paradis Fiscaux, Enfer de la Fuite des Capitaux du Continent Africain

Paradis fiscaux, enfer des peuples africains » titrait en avril 2016, en plein scandale des Panama Papers, le journal burkinabé le Pays.


Les Nouveaux Défis Posés par la Lutte Anti-Terroriste Internationale

Avec l’assaut du village de Baghouz, près de la frontière entre la Syrie et l’Irak, l’État islamique est en passe de perdre son dernier bastion territorial au Moyen-Orient.


Fintech : Ami ou Ennemi du Crime Anti-Financier ?

Les fintechs sont des comptes bancaires numériques et des services de portefeuilles numériques. Un nombre croissant d’acteurs numériques propose des comptes de paiement, des fonds monétaires ou des services de virement d’argent.


Liaisons Dangereuses : 5AMLD et EDD

La cinquième Directive anti-blanchiment de l’Union européenne (5AMLD), entrée en vigueur le 9 juillet 2018, devra être mise en oeuvre par les États membres d’ici janvier 2020. Les entreprises affectées par cette nouvelle directive, les entités concernées…