Enhancing FIU supervision is crucial for strengthening the effectiveness of financial intelligence units in detecting and combating money laundering and terrorist financing activities. The Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) usually have a national responsibility for receiving, analysing, and disseminating intelligence submitted through the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regime, to share with law enforcement agencies at home and internationally.
The international cooperations work in collaboration with each other to ensure that the overall AML/CFT system of the country is maintained and criminal activities and transactions are identified and investigated appropriately.
Enhancing FIU Supervision to Tackling TBAML
The FIU work on SARs and plays a critical role in alerting law enforcement to potential instances of money laundering and terrorist financing. SARs are a vital source of intelligence, not only on economic crime but on a wide range of criminal activity. They are instrumental in and have helped with, identifying fraud victims, murder suspects, missing persons, people traffickers, fugitives, and terrorist financing.
FIU play a role in tackling illicit finance to disrupt serious and organized crime and to do this, they require officers with a range of backgrounds, skills, and experience to help the FIU stay one step ahead of criminals. FIR looks for a rewarding and challenging opportunity as a typical FIU officer. FIU comprises a diverse team from a wide range of backgrounds and each individual brings something unique, which enables FIU to perform its responsibilities efficiently.
Suspicious Activity Reports, if required to be filed, alert law enforcement to potential instances of money laundering or terrorist financing. SARs are prepared, reviewed, and reported to the regulatory authorities usually by the money laundering reporting officer (MLRO). SARs are made by financial institutions and other professionals such as solicitors, accountants, and estate agents and are a vital source of intelligence not only on economic crime but on a wide range of criminal activity.
They provide information and intelligence from the private sector that would otherwise not be visible to law enforcement. SARs can also be submitted by private individuals who have suspicion or knowledge of money laundering or terrorist financing.
FIUs develop communication channels for organizations, where they are required to report suspicious activities in a prescribed manner. Organizations when identifying suspicious activities or transactions or have doubts about the veracity of the transaction, report them to the FIU, after performing necessary internal investigations.
FIU also works with relevant Law Enforcement Authorities, to counter the risk of ML/TFC being faced by the country. To work in the FIU, it is not necessary to have a background in law enforcement or finance, however, if a person has the desire to protect the public, is adaptable, and able to prioritize in a fast-paced environment, with a keen eye for detail, then that person is suitable to work in the FIU of the country.
In FIU different teams are formed that work on different types of crimes such as money laundering. To work on a team that specifically deals with money laundering, the AML team must be able to very quickly learn about a wide range of different crimes and ways of dealing with them.
The anti-money laundering (AML) team of the institution deals with intelligence inquiries. Sometimes the intelligence inquiry is a completely new one and it might require the AML team to work on that to show why they should look into it.
Final Thoughts
Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) play a vital role in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing by receiving, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence through Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), which serve as a valuable source of information on a wide range of criminal activities, enabling collaboration with law enforcement agencies and the protection of the financial system and society at large.
