The Europe Express column features anti-financial crime-related content with a regional focus in Europe from subject-matter experts. If you would like to contribute to this column or have any topics you would like to suggest, please email editor@acams.org.
Our award-winning regular contributor is Stefano Siggia, CAMS, senior consultant at the Brussels-based regulatory and compliance consultancy firm Pideeco. Siggia was born in Italy but grew up in Bangladesh, China, Germany and Belgium, where he currently resides. After earning his bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Vesalius College and a master’s degree in international relations from the Brussels School of International Studies
(University of Kent), he worked at Banca Monte Paschi Belgio.
An African grey parrot, a common boa, a pangolin … these are not just animals in the wild; they are commodities advertised and sold on social media every day. Once confined to shadowy backroom deals, the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has gone digital, thriving on...
For as little as 250 euros ($273) a month, anyone could run their own phishing empire. This is what the Dutch LabHost network offered—an all-in-one fraud-as-a-service (FaaS) platform that sold tools to create fake banking and government institution websites to scam victims worldwide. For as...
Among the most widely discussed topics today are the opportunities provided by artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency and to reduce costs. This also stands true for anti-financial crime (AFC) processes. Know your customer and transaction monitoring processes work with large amounts of data. Because...
Ten seconds―that is all it takes to break payment barriers across European borders under the European Union’s (EU) new Instant Payment Regulation (IPR). Entered into force in April 2024, it requires all payment service providers (PSPs) to receive instant payments as of January 9, 2025,...
The purpose of the fight against money laundering, as we know it in the world of compliance, is based on the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force recommendations. Financial investigations are often triggered following suspicious activity reports transmitted to the local financial intelligence unit...
Nous nous proposons dans cet article de nous arrêter sur 5 caractéristiques qui font de la Grande-Bretagne un territoire particulier en matière de crime financier et plus particulièrement en matière de blanchiment de capitaux. Le marché eurodollar, les Offshore Financial Centres, l’intermédiation financière non-bancaire, le...
Financial fraud remains a significant threat to the stability and integrity of the European financial system, particularly as digital transactions and cross-border payments grow in both speed, volume and complexity.1 The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) have taken active roles...
At first glance, there appeared to be nothing unusual when―between 2022 and 2023―a group of scholars requested access to rare Russian literary works from historical and national libraries across Europe. But when the returned editions by Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and others were found to...
United States (US) Democratic Senator Carl Levin had just joined the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) as chair when he learned of a troubling audit conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Fed). In their review of the anti-money laundering...
As the ACAMS France Chapter celebrated its 10th anniversary, it held three significant events: one on money laundering and two on corruption. Usually, money laundering techniques are observed from the lens of regulated professionals. Quentin Mugg, the first ACAMS France Chapter guest, heads the anti-drugs...
Our award-winning regular contributor is Stefano Siggia, CAMS, senior consultant at the Brussels-based regulatory and compliance consultancy firm Pideeco. Siggia was born in Italy but grew up in Bangladesh, China, Germany and Belgium, where he currently resides. After earning his bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Vesalius College and a master’s degree in international relations from the Brussels School of International Studies
