New Singapore offensive against money laundering, terrorism financing

Singaporean authorities and government agencies are involved in the offensive against money laundering and terrorist financing with a new partnership.

The association against money laundering and the fight against the financing of terrorism (ACIP) brings together more parties to fight against this type of increasingly dangerous forces around the world.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Department of Trade Affairs (DAC) said in a joint statement yesterday that the association was to fight not only against money laundering and terrorist financing, but also to improve the capacity of To combat offenses arising from the position of Singapore as an international financial center and commercial center

Ong Chong Tee, deputy director general of financial supervision at MAS, said estimates put the annual amount of money laundering to more than $ 1 trillion (US $ 1.4 billion), but "no one really Really knows. "

Such threats endanger the confidence and stability of financial systems and bring about high social and political costs, he added, so that MAS and DAC intensify their efforts.

ACIP will be of several groups to address the specific risk areas and issues related to money laundering and terrorist financing.

As it is called, the main government group consists of eight banks and the Bank Association in Singapore, and is chaired by the CAO and MAS.

The groups will share information with the private sector and other stakeholders so that everyone can better understand and mitigate risks. They will also create "specific, relevant and specific industrial products.

Ong said it is important that financial institutions demonstrate an understanding of the risks and know a good risk culture within their organization.

There are already international organizations - such as the Financial Action Task Force and the Egmont Group - working to address these transnational threats, but Ong noted that it is equally important to work on these Singapore issues.

"The types of financial crime are rapidly changing. Countries should explore smarter and more efficient ways to combat such crimes," said David Chew, director of CAD.

For example, the fight against the money laundering service MAS was created last year to coordinate strategies across all economic sectors.

It also uses various measures to intensify "oversight of areas or companies that are most prone to money laundering and terrorist financing risks, or when controls fail past inspections," Ong said.

"Singapore should be proactive in doing our part to fight the threats," he said, as the country is home to several financial institutions, including international names.

Russia Caves In on Bitcoin to Open New Front on Money Laundering

Only a year ago, the Russian Finance Ministry threatened to jail for anyone using digital currency.

In a major turnaround in U, it approximates its acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new attack against money laundering.

Authorities hope to recognize bitcoin cryptography and another in 2018 as they try to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position with the government in digital currency, according to its press service.

"The state must know that every moment is on both sides of the financial system," Moiseev said. "If there is a transaction, people should facilitate understanding of where they are bought and sold to those who, like the bank."

While Bitcoin is not regulated by any government, it has been the object of scrutiny in some countries to protect government property or the brightness of ill-gotten gains. In China, which played a central role in commercial and mining bitcoins in recent years, the three largest exchanges have imposed a suspension of all currency withdrawals in March, the Central Bank issued new guidelines its use.

Monitoring cryptography could prove to be the ultimate tool enlisted in the Bank of Russia's fight against money laundering, which saw hundreds of lenders lose their licenses in the last three years. The plan to legalize and control Bitcoin takes the form of traditional collapse schemes, suspicious transactions such as fake transactions and loans used to move money overseas halved to 771 million last year, according to Central Bank data.

Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, Olga Skorobogatova, said in February that authorities decide whether digital coins can be considered as assets, money or security through 2,017.

Foreign banks have sometimes been swept away in investigations of Russian projects. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc has received requests for information from the U.K. in March in connection with a purported money laundering network that transferred money through Moldova and Latvia between 2010 and 2014.

Deutsche Bank AG was fined 629 million Americans and UK authorities for compliance failures that allowed the bank to help rich Russians to move about 10 billion overseas with transactions that may have Covered a financial crime.

Crime, corruption and tax evasion have generated at least $ 211.5 billion in illicit flows from Russia between 1994 and 2011, illegal transfers amounting to $ 552.9 billion, according to Global Financial Integrity, based in Washington.

Bitcoin is the first digital currency to get some popularity through its use of blockchain, a great online book that tracks and verifies every time you use virtual money. It faces some criticism from those who say that the software on which they are based is too rigid to be widely accepted, the brightest investors of the most sophisticated music album used by Etereum.