Participants at the recently held Public – Private Collaboration Workshop De-Risking, and AML/CFT Compliance of Banks and Money Transfer Operators, listen to proceedings. Presenters were from World Bank and International Finance Corporation.
May 13, 2019 – Rainbow Towers Hotel, Harare
On the 13th of May 2019, the Financial Intelligence Unit facilitated a Public – Private Collaboration Workshop on De-Risking, and AML/CFT Compliance for Banks and Money Transfer Operators, which was conducted by the World Bank and international Finance Corporation.
The workshop, was held against the increasing threat of correspondent banks terminating their business relationships with the local (respondent) banks, which will have a huge impact on Zimbabwe’s international trade and the economy as a whole, if left unchecked.
The workshop brought together financial players (banks and money transfer operators), Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulators (the Financial Intelligence Unit, Exchange Control, National Payments Systems, Bank Supervision, Insurance and Pensions Commission and Securities Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe), international financiers and technical experts, namely the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
The workshop discussed the reasons why correspondent banks are terminating business relationships with respondent banks, and the AML/CFT measures financial institutions and the country as whole, need to put in place in order to avoid de-risking.
The Wolfsberg Group Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire and Standard Chartered Bank Correspondent Bank Academies Training Program, were also discussed during the workshop.
The Ministry of Finance expressed its commitment to playing its ministerial role in the effective implementation of AML/CFT measures by all AML/CFT stakeholders, through the leading agency, the Financial Intelligence Unit. Banks and Money Transfer Operators welcomed the public – private collaboration, and committed to increase their effectiveness in the implementation of AML/CFT measures.