DOHA: The challenges of combating money laundering and financing of terrorism was the topic of a seminar at which financial industry leaders met to propose solutions.
Banking, regulatory and industry specialists discussed the design and implementation of Qatar's new anti-money laundering legal and regulatory framework in a seminar hosted by Deloitte, the largest private professional services organization in the world by revenue, and Thomson Reuters | Complinet.
The seminar follows the removal of Qatar, last October, from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) list of countries with deficient Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations.
Members present at the seminar discussed Qatar's new legal framework from the financial markets and banking perspectives and discussed the challenges that lay ahead in implementing the law.
Atif Yusuf, Middle East director of financial services at Deloitte Corporate Finance Limited, said: "Financial institutions would find it tough to comply under the existing legal framework themselves; they need help from the state and the regulators to address the main challenges emanating from culture and legal framework."
Yusuf noted that Qatar, along with other Middle Eastern countries, was traditionally a cash-based economy and that the new more stringent rules represented a significant departure from previous practices, especially the risk-based methodology for customer due diligence and suspicious activity reporting. "Banks and in particular AML practices are going through a lot of transformation; processes have to be taken step-by-step from regulators and financial institutions," he said.
Prayas Malhotra, Data Risk Services Leader from Deloitte Middle East's Enterprise Risk Services focused on the challenge of accurate reporting. "We need to enable our organizational data to communicate key messages," he said, adding that correctly entered and analyzed data was a valuable asset. "Analytics is knowledge, creativity and experience, in addition to rules and regulatory requirements," he added.
Stephan Evans, Head of AML at the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, said that the FATF's grey-listing of Qatar was the catalyst to expedite the reform program. He cautioned that "removing Qatar from the grey list does not mean it is off the hook" and that "ongoing reviews will take place to ensure effective implementation of FATF standards."
Samy Benkermi, acting director of market operations, compliance and licensing affairs at the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), briefed seminar participants on the implications and challenges of implementing the new law as well as the QFMA's own framework.
© The Peninsula 2010
