General background
The various international organizations seek to set and develop recommendations and standards that countries must apply effectively in order to strengthen the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing system, which contributes to the safety of the banking and financial systems in countries. Among these organizations is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), whose recommendations in combating money laundering and terrorism financing represent an essential pillar in this regard.
Countries are obliged to implement those recommendations in order to maintain the safety and stability of banking systems. To ensure the effective application of these recommendations, the FATF Group reviews the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing systems and constantly enhances its standards to confront new risks. The Group also monitors countries to ensure complete and effective implementation of its standards, by evaluating the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing systems applied in the countries, according to a specific methodology, which requires a number of criteria that countries must be evaluated based on.
The Annual Forum for Compliance Managers in Arab Banks represents a high-level platform for discussing the risks faced by societies resulting from financial crimes and their impact on the stability of financial systems, and the best means to increase the effectiveness of combating them. This Forum focuses on the most important challenges facing compliance managers in Arab banks, taking into account the continuous developments in our world, especially with regard to criminals using modern and innovative methods to launder their criminal proceeds and to finance terrorism, requiring the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing system to be flexible and continuously evolving.
Forum Objectives
– Highlighting the best practices to enhance the effectiveness of systems and procedures taken by countries to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, and the role played by the private sector in that system.
– Shedding light on international standards in combating money laundering and terrorism financing, with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of the financial sector in combating financial crimes in general, in addition to its impact on the stability of financial systems.
– Discussing the role of financial institutions in applying preventive measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing in an adequate manner and commensurate with their risks.
– Raising awareness and building capacities of the financial institutions and those required to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Investigation Unit to raise the quality of reports, the adequacy of analysis, and the availability of relevant information and documents.
– Discussing the challenges facing financial institutions in confronting criminals during their attempts to exploit legal entities and arrangements to prevent the concerned authorities from reaching the identity of the real beneficiaries, and highlighting how to enhance mechanisms for identifying the real beneficiary of dealing with financial institutions, whether natural or legal persons.
– Highlighting the best practices in applying targeted financial sanctions.
The most important axes and main topics
- Self-assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing risks faced by banks, and their relationship to the sectoral and national assessment of those risks, and the most important risk mitigation measures.
- Best practices to strengthen the partnership between the private sector and the public sector.
- Using technology to analyze money laundering patterns.
- The most important quality factors in reporting suspicious operations.
- The most important internal control system is to ensure compliance with the requirements of combating money laundering and terrorism financing.
- The most prominent developments in international standards are related to identifying the real beneficiary and their implications for national efforts.
- Best practices in applying targeted financial sanctions, and the challenges related to their application.
- Challenges arise from the widespread use of virtual currencies and mechanisms to deal with them.
- Data protection and confidentiality requirements.
- The most prominent experiences of the Middle East and North African countries in strengthening the role of the private sector in combating money laundering and financing terrorism systems.
Target participants:
Although the Forum primarily targets compliance managers in Arab banks, the topics covered by this Forum are of interest to officials in all entities concerned with combating money laundering and terrorism financing. Among the most important participants targeted for this forum:
– Compliance managers of banks and financial institutions and their main assistants.
– Senior managers in banks and financial institutions.
– Branch managers in banks and financial institutions and their main assistants.
– Risk managers in banks and financial institutions and their main assistants.
– Internal audit managers in banks and financial institutions and their main assistants.
– Managers in charge of cyber security in banks and financial institutions and their main assistants.
– Managers in charge of financial inclusion in banks and financial institutions, and their main assistants.
– Managers in charge of digital transformation in banks and financial institutions and their main assistants.
Forum structure
- Presenting working papers and holding in-depth discussion sessions by a well-known and distinguished group of experts from the banking and financial sectors.
- Organizing an exhibition accompanying the forum’s activities, including sponsoring institutions, which constitutes an opportunity to establish and develop business relations.
