News

GIABA to hold public-private sector consultative forum in Senegal

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) is set to hold a public-private sector consultative forum at Saly, Senegal on Saturday.

Themed “Cooperation and Collaboration in the implementation of Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in GIABA member States”, the programme is aimed at strengthening public-private partnerships in implementing AML/CFT in the region.

This was contained in a release issued by GIABA Secretariat and copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra on Tuesday.

The statement said that the programme would also provide a platform for sharing experiences on public-private partnerships in implementing AML/CFT measures from other regions and discussing benefits that the partnership could bring to the next level of effectiveness.

“The challenges of public-private sector cooperation and proffer solutions to facilitate the shared responsibility of effectively implementing AML/CFT measures in the region,” it added.

The release said the programme was targeted at directors of operations of law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) with primary responsibility for investigating money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF), directors in charge of AML/CFT supervision/compliance from regulatory authorities, heads of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), Executives of the Compliance Officers Forum of GIABA member States and select critical operators in the private sector.

“Combating money laundering and terrorist financing requires a coordinated approach from all critical stakeholders, especially supervisors, law enforcement agencies, FIUs, and private sector operators in the AML/CFT ecosystem,” it stated.

The GIABA Secretariat said that potential values or benefits of public-private cooperation in AML/CFT were enormous as that was the crucial first step in delivering operational benefits and efficiency gains.

“It also provides a framework to build relationships and dialogue between stakeholders to help coordinate and catalyse coherent reform of the broader financial crime risk management system,” it added. 

Despite the significant progress made in developing public-private cooperation or partnerships in some regions, the secretariat said there was still a lot to be done to fully realise its potential in its region.

“Hence, the need to organise this forum to discuss the challenges and realities on the ground and how to promote the establishment of public-private partnerships across our member States.

At the end of the programme, strong relationships, collaboration and dialogue between stakeholders to help coordinate the implementation of AML/CFT measures in the GIABA member state will emerge,” it added.

BY ABIGAIL ARTHUR

Show More
Back to top button