Financiers mull ways to combat money laundering
Financiers mull ways to combat money laundering
The government is determined to curb money laundering and activities that help to finance terrorism in order to safeguard the nation's economy and combat international crime.
Representatives from government organisations and the Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) are gathering for a two-day meeting in Vientiane this week to learn the basics of National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in readiness for National Risk Assessment (NRA) implementation.
At the seminar, participants will learn about the methods and objectives of the World Bank in implementing the NRA mechanism, and discuss the challenges of NRA implementation experienced by Cambodia and Vietnam.
They will also discuss the shortcomings of NRA methods as well as trends in the field and organisations' varying ability to combat money laundering.
Laos plans to evaluate the second round of the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing project in fiscal year 2020-21.
Deputy Governor of the BOL, Ms Vatthana Dalaloy, asked all participants to take this opportunity to learn more about the value of NRA in anti-money laundering and terrorism financing activities.
Laos is one of the members of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering and has obligations in implementing the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s 40 recommendations to meet international standards on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
BOL has worked with many international bodies to enhance the capacity of its technical personnel who are working in the crime prevention sector and other relevant areas.
In addition, BOL works with various Asean countries in technical areas, including Myanmar, Cambodia and other developing countries.
The central bank also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korea Financial I ntelligence Unit on the sharing of information to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
This was a significant form of international cooperatio n in actively addressing the central bank's AML/CFT deficiencies.
In 2010, Laos was firstly evaluated by the FATF's Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering which indicated the country had deficiencies in AML/CFT. This resulted in Laos being placed on the Grey list of FATF.
In late 2015, the FATF plenary meeting placed Laos on the Dark Grey List due to the country's inability to meet regulation priorities in a timely manner.
