EU AML/CFT Global Facility

Visit to South Africa
2022-09-19 - 2022-09-20 | South Africa, South Africa
This week, Team Leader David Hotte and Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans carried out a visit to South Africa 🇿🇦, building on the initial engagement of the EU Global Facility with the country.
The visit started with a meeting with the IDC BOT (Inter-departemental committee on BO transparency), the comittee in charge of the BO transparency reforms in the country where both parties discussed the workplan proposed by the EU Global Facility to the partner country.
Also in discussions: the future activities to be delivered in the coming weeks and months.
The meeting was attendez by representatives from the FIU, the CIPC (Ministry of #Economy), the Master of courts (Ministry of #Justice) and South Africa’s revenue service (Ministry of #Finances)
💡The IDC BOT is tasked with engaging with the various relevant stakeholders on BO transparency from both the public and private sector.

Joint regional conference on BO in Zambia
2022-09-13 - 2022-09-15 | Zambia, Zambia
Press Release
Regional conference on beneficial ownership gathers 18 African countries representatives in Zambia
Lusaka, 13 September 2022 – The EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) on Tuesday,13th September 2022 kicked off a regional event on Beneficial Ownership (BO) in the field of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing, in collaboration with the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) Secretariat and the Financial Intelligence Centre of the Republic of Zambia (FIC).
Held under the title “Regional Workshop on Enhancing Beneficial Ownership Frameworks: Evolving Technical Standard and their Effective Implementation”, the three-day event is witnessing the participation of 80 representatives from 18 countries of the African continent, as well as a number of attendees online.
In her opening remarks, Acting Director General of the FIC, Liya Tembo commended a “timely workshop that represents a key milestone towards improved systems to tackle corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and terrorism financing in the ESAAMLG region”. She emphasised the need for enhanced cooperation and shared BO Information related to financial and economic crimes, encouraging countries to “build systems and learn about what other countries are doing to change legislation, how they maintain accurate and update BO information and how this information should be shared with stakeholders in the value chain of AML/CFT regime.”
For his part, EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte, welcomed the participation of representatives from 18 countries, saying “it is particularly impressive to witness the attendance of so many countries, which shows African nations’ committment to the enhancement of beneficial ownership frameworks within their respective jurisdictions. I am confident that these three days of exchanges will yield great results with regards to transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements.”
The workshop, which will consist of interactive exchanges and thematic presentations, will allow participants to exchange best practices and further deepen their expertise on BO-related matters.
“Due to the current challenges faced by countries in understanding the issues of BO, the ESAAMLG is having 18 of its member countries participate in this important event aimed at building more awareness on how countries can comply with the Financial Action Task Force’s standards on BO and how to implement relevant measures. Our Secretariat is confident that the workshop will go a long way in assisting members to come up with effective systems to handle BO,” stated Expert Joseph Jagada from the ESAAMLG secretariat.
The conference is part of a series of technical assistance activities delivered by the EU GF-AML/CFT to third countries around the world. Demand driven and tailored made, the support is provided on a bilateral, regional and thematic basis. As of September 2022, the project has delivered bilateral assistance to 16 countries globally.

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The regional workshop “Enhancing Effectiveness of Beneficial Ownership Frameworks: Evolving Technical Standard and their Effective Implementation” will take place in a hybrid format (onsite and online) on 13-15 September 2022 in Lusaka, Zambia.
The regional event is co-organised by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT, the ESAAMLG Secretariat and the Financial Intelligence Centre of the Republic of Zambia (FIC).
The workshop has been designed to allow participants to exchange and further their expertise in the following areas :

The FATF and EU standards related to beneficial ownership and the transparency of legal persons (LP) and legal arrangements (LA),
The importance of country-wide assessments of the ML/TF risks associated with LP/LA as well, the methodology developed by the Global Facility and case studies presented by Ghana, Mauritius and the United Kingdom,
The role (public) beneficial ownership registers is expected to play in future AML/CFT frameworks, the Global Facility’s methodology for their implementation as well as country case studies,
The role of FI/DNFBP in ensuring the availability and accessibility of beneficial ownership information within a jurisdiction,
The practical tools and solutions available to supervisors to design and implement risk-based supervision strategies on beneficial ownership identification/verification obligations,
The practical considerations and concrete actions a jurisdiction can take when implementing a ML/TF risk assessment of LP/LA, engaging in a ESAAMLG Mutual Evaluation and/or implementing an FATF/ICRG Action Plan.

55th Anniversary of the Bank of Mauritius
2022-09-08 - 2022-09-11 | Mauritius, Mauritius
The EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte delivered a presentation on AML/CFT Developments at the Emerald Jubilee (55th Anniversary) of the Bank of Mauritius 🇲🇺 this week, alongside representatives from 20 Central Banks from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Held under the title “Adapting to our Future”, the event was inaugurated by Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Mauritius’ Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Renganaden Padayachy and the Governor of the BoM, Harvesh Seegolam.
In his welcoming remarks, Mr Seegolam insisted: “there is no one-size-fits-all solution as each country has its own specificities and, therefore, solutions have to respond to economic realities on the ground.”
He outlined the “series of timely, tailor-made and bold measures which protected the country’s financial system in the last few years. […]
The hallmark in the evolution of the Bank of Mauritius has been its institutional strength, and I can confidently affirm that the measures have reaped the expected results and the banking system has successfully weathered the crisis unscathed.”
A reality that David Hotte focused on during his presentation on “AML/CFT Developments”, stressing the need for “tailor-made and context-adapted regulatory and legislative changes in the banking sector.”
“AML/CFT is an ever evolving matter and countries from all over the world need to be constantly on the lookout for new threats to their frameworks. This is why the EU Global Facility is so strongly committed to promoting a South to South technical assistance where experts trained by the EU GF can subsequently become trainers for their peers and colleagues from other countries of their region (and elsewhere).”
As part of its technical assistance to the partner country of Mauritius, the EU Global Facility provided continuous technical assistance through various training and activities from June 2019 to May 2022.
💡Mauritius was officially removed from the list of high-risk third countries with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) by the FATF

Scoping mission to Kyrgyzstan
2022-09-05 - 2022-09-07 | Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan
This scoping mission to Kyrgyzstan aims to assess the country’s request for technical assistance with regards to AML/CFT.
It will be conducted by our experts Mamuka Jgenti and Jens Madsen, who will meet with local stakeholders such as the State Financial Intelligence Service, the General Prosecutor, Ministry of Justice or the National Bank.
A coordination meeting with the EU funded project LEICA is also planned in the premises of the EU Delegation.

ESAAMLG Plenary
2022-08-28 - 2022-09-02 | Zambia, Zambia
The EU Global Facility in at the ESAAMLG Plenary in Livingstone, Zambia 🇿🇲 !
Our team, represented by Arnaud STIEN, Key Expert on Regulation/FIU and Mamuka Jgenti, Key Expert on Justice/CSOs, participated in the in 44th Task Force of the Senior Officials Plenary meeting in Livingston spanning from Sunday 28 August to Thursday 1 September 2022. The meeting was followed by the 5th ESSAAMLG AML/CFT Public-Private sector dialogue (PPSD) on virtual assets and the implementation of AML/CFT programmes in the ESSAMLG region.
On the Agenda for the EU Global Facility:

✔︎ Participation in the Technical Assistance Coordination Forum where the bilateral and regional activities conducted by the EU GF in the region will be discussed in addition to forthcoming events.
✔︎Liaison with the delegations from partner countries with which the EU GF is already engaged.
✔︎ The EUGF will also follow up on the work achieved by the ESAAMLG, such as the publication of the regional survey on de-risking/correspondent banking, which was the topic of the regional conference organised by the EUGF in May 2022 in Mauritius.

The EU Global Facility is pleased to note that a number of TA activities implemented in partner states -as well as upcoming ones- have been reflected in the documents adopted by the ESAAMLG. This constitutes a proof of our strong and sustainable #collaboration with the #ESAAMLG and third countries.
#Zambia 🇿🇲

Special Note
The EU Global Facility on AML/CFT warmly congratulates Mrs Fikile Zitha for her election as new Executive Secretary of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Mrs Zitha was officially elected by the Council of Ministers of ESAAMLG at its 22nd meeting.
In the name of the entire Global Facility team, we would like to congratulate our trusted partner Mrs ZITHA for this new function and we wish her all the success in her new endeavours.
The project also thanks Dr. Eliawony Kisanga, outgoing Executive Secretary, for his tireless efforts to strengthen ESAAMLG’s work throughout the years and for the excellent co-operation he helped establish with the EU Global Facility.

Introductory e-training for the Seychelles' NPOs on the FATF Rec 8
2022-08-22 - 2022-08-26 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
This e-training is the second activity implemented in the Seychelles, following an introductory e-training carried out earlier this month. This training will focus on the implementation of the FATF Recommendation 8, the full engagement required by countries and thus the awareness of the issue by local NPOs.
This constitutes the first in a series of capacity building activities for the CSOs in the Seychelles. This series will carry an introductory objective, including to prepare the country’s NPO community for the follow up measures to be taken within the framework of the EU Global Facility’s assistance to the Seychelles under its CSO component.
“I am very happy to see our technical assistance starting only three weeks after our first mission there,” said EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte in his welcoming remarks, adding “these are only the first activities and we are sure I will mark the start of a great cooperation, with many more activities to come.”
This session comes following the productive scoping mission our team conducted last month, where a workplan of the EU GF’s engagement with the Seychelles was elaborated in co-ordination with the authorities of Seychelles. The workplan covers various AML/CFT topics on which the GFT shall focus in its engagement with the partners state. The GFT shall also remain in touch with the other TA providers to ensure the synergies in joint efforts.

Scoping mission to the DRC
2022-08-22 - 2022-08-26 | DRC, Congo, Democratic Republic of the
The EU Global Facility’s scoping mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo 🇨🇩 kicked off this morning in Kinshasa, first of three days of exchanges with local authorities involved in the country’s anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing.
Starting with a meeting with the CENAREF this morning, the discussions covered the objectives and expectations of the partner country, as well as an assessment of the state pf play of AML/CFT reforms ongoing in the DRC.
Opening the session on behalf of the #EU Global Facility, Team Leader David Hotte, highlighted the importance of the close partnership with the African country and of the development of a sound and sustainable roadmap and workplan to support these reforms.
“These next few days will be crucial in understanding the needs of our partner state’s institutions, including ministries, the Central Bank, etc while ensuring the absence of duplication of technical assistance provided by other partner projects,” he stated.
Later during the day, the EU Global Facility team met with the EU Delegation to the DRC, where they discussed the modalities of the upcoming technical assistance.
This scoping mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo aims to evaluate the current state of play in the country with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing and the potential areas of technical assistance to be delivered by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT.
During a variety of meetings, participants from both sides will discuss the action plan for the future of the technical assistance, which will include a specific focus on BO, Recommendation 8 and Justice, among others

Introductory e-training for the Seychelles regulators/authorities on the FATF Rec 8
2022-08-16 - 2022-08-19 | The Seychelles, Seychelles
On 16 August 2022, (only) three weeks after the scoping mission the EU Global Facility team conducted in the Seychelles 🇸🇨, we are pleased to announce the launch of our technical assistance engagement with the partner state.
In co-operation with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Seychelles, a four-day capacity building e-training kicked off today, targeted at the authorities and regulators on the implementation of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8.
“I am very happy to see our technical assistance starting only three weeks after our first mission there,” said EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte in his welcoming remarks, adding “this is only the first activity and we are sure I will mark the start of a great cooperation, with many more activities to come.”
This training is part of the workplan elaborated by the EU GF in close collaboration with the authorities of the Seychelles; it covers various AML/CFT related topics on which the project shall focus its engagement with the partners state.
The EU Global Facility will also remain in touch with the other technical assistance providers to ensure the synergies in joint efforts.
Next week, an initial e-training on the FATF Recommendation 8 shall be delivered for the selected representatives of the civil society from the partner state.

Participation to the Union of Arab Banks Conference in Amman
2022-08-15 - 2022-08-16 | Jordan
The EU Global Facility was in Jordan 🇯🇴 to partake in the Forum on ‘Compliance with International Standards on AML/CFT: Future and Challenges’ organised by the Central Bank of Jordan, the Union of Arab Banks (UAB Online) and the Association of Banks in Jordan.
Our Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans delivered a presentation of the project and of bilateral and thematic activities on Beneficial Ownership the Facility provides to partner countries and organisations.
For his part, Key Expert on Regulation/FIU Arnaud STIEN delivered a presentation on “Financial supervision, regulation and virtual assets : future and challenges”.
Held under the auspices of H.E. the Governor of the CBJ, Dr. Dr Adel Al Sharkas, the forum covered a number of topics related to AML/CFT including Targeted Financial Sanctions, arm proliferation financing, UBO, compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and data protection, among others.
In the margin of the conference, a coordination meeting was held between experts of the EU Global Facility and the high level steering committee tasked with implementing the IT solution for the BO Registration system in Jordan.
The committee is composed of representatives from The Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Unit, the Central Bank of Jordan, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and the Companies Control Department.

Argentina coordination meeting
2022-08-11 | Argentina, Argentina
Today, we officially kickstart our technical assistance activities with #Argentina 🇦🇷 after a successful coordination meeting!
Following a request for technical assistance from the country, the EU Global Facility on 11 August 2022 held formal discussions with representatives of various structures of Buenos Aires responsible for the compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 on NPOs
The EU Global Facility’s engagement and cooperation with Argentina will also cover issues such as supervision of financial and DNFSP and support to the FIU, improving effectiveness of financial investigation and criminal justice system, beneficial ownership and virtual assets.
“We have agreed to reactivate our technical assistance to Argentina and to begin as soon as possible with activities related to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8,” noted EU Global Facility Team Leader David Hotte, expressing his keenness on expanding the project’s geographic scope to more Latin American countries.

Scoping mission to South Africa
2022-08-01 - 2022-08-06 | South Africa, South Africa
On 10 August 2022 , the EU Global Facility team, led by Team Leader David Hotte, concluded its scoping mission to Pretoria, South Africa. 🇿🇦
We would like to commend our main interlocutor – Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) – for organising very interactive and productive initial interactions with most agencies responsible for the efficient functioning of AML/CFT system in the country.
In the presence of the EU Delegation to Pretoria, our Key Experts Mamuka Jgenti and Alexandre Taymans reviewed the current state of play with the South African counterparts, and discussed the needs they expressed with regards to AML/CFT technical assistance.
The two parties also assessed the technical assistance steps to be taken accordingly.
“The EU Global Facility is looking forward to working with the partner state, in close coordination with other EU-funded initiatives active in the region and South Africa, as well as other relevant TA providers,” concluded David Hotte.

Final drafting exercise with AMLU and the Judicial Council of Jordan
2022-07-29 - 2022-07-30 | Jordan
Final meeting of the drafting group to finalise the Judicial Manual on Financial investigations.
More coming soon

GAFILAT Plenary
2022-07-25 - 2022-07-29 | Ecuador, Ecuador
The EU Global Facility is expanding further to Latin America !
At the end of last month, our Senior Expert on Justice Victoria Palau Tárrega took part in the GAFILAT plenary and Working Groups meetings which took place in Quito (Ecuador 🇪🇨).
Topics that were discussed in the meetings included Beneficial Ownership , cryptocurrency , art trafficking, illegal mining, assets recovery, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 as well as risk assessment on tax crime and legal entities, among others.
Bilateral meetings were held with the EU Global Facility partner countries Panama 🇵🇦 and Argentina 🇦🇷. In addition, Ecuador, Paraguay 🇵🇾 and Uruguay 🇺🇾 expressed their interest in receiving TA from the EU GF project.

UAE Workshop on Virtual Assets Investigation
2022-07-25 - 2022-07-29 | The UAE, United Arab Emirates
UAE, EU Global Facility conclude cryptocurrency investigations training course
Abu Dhabi, 29 July 2022 – The UAE authorities and the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) on Friday concluded a weeklong training workshop on “Cryptocurrency investigations”.
Targeted at 50 individuals from the UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit, Law Enforcement agencies, Public Prosecution, Ministry of Interior and State Security, the advanced course aimed to promote cooperation and support cross functional expertise between these national competent authorities.
“New technologies, products, and related services have the potential to spur financial innovation and efficiency and improve financial inclusion, but they also create new opportunities for criminals and terrorists to launder their proceeds or finance their illicit activities,” explained EU GF Key Expert on Regulation/FIU Arnaud Stien, adding “virtual assets represent an attractive economic opportunity for jurisdictions, but also bring along a number of challenges and risks that must be understood and managed for their safe integration within a country’s economy.”
Over the course of four days, sessions covered a wide range of topics, namely “Introduction to cryptocurrencies”, “Blockchain and Mining”, “the Darknet”, “Tracing Bitcoins”, “Seizure and Confiscation”, “Non Fungible Tokens” and “Policy Requirements”, among others.
The training sought to enhance the skills and tools of relevant authorities in investigating virtual assets related concerns, notably by understanding the practical expectations to conduct such types of investigations.
The training is part of a series of technical assistance activities delivered by the EU Global Facility to the UAE aimed at improving the country’s AML/CFT frameworks. Started in April 2021, activities have focused on parallel investigations, the use of informants, turning intelligence into evidence, financial supervision, the judiciary and FIU core functions.

Learn more about our work with the UAE HERE

Scoping mission to the Seychelles
2022-07-24 - 2022-07-28
This scoping mission to the Seychelles aims to evaluate the current state of play in the country with regards to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing and the potential areas of technical assistance to be delivered by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT.
During a variety of meetings, participants from both sides will discuss the action plan for the future of the technical assistance, which will include a specific focus on Recommendation 8.

Onsite mission to Morocco: DNFBPs, strategic approach and TACC
2022-07-19 - 2022-07-22 | Morocco, Morocco
Morocco welcomes technical assistance on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing
Rabat, 20 July 2022 – The Ministry of Economy and Finances of Morocco on Tuesday welcomed a delegation from the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT), which worked on the strenghtenging of the Kingdom’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist strategy.
Hosted by the Treasury and External Affairs Directorate of the Ministry, the two-day mission began with a strategic meeting held in the presence of representatives from the Interior Ministry, the Central Bank of Morocco, the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC), the Insurance and Social Security Supervisory Authority (ACAPS), the Foreign Exchange Office and the Financial Intelligence Unit (ANRF).
The initial meeting aimed to discuss the technical assistance request formulated by the Moroccan authorities to the EU Global Facility, which seeks to strengthen initiatives that meet the requirements of the FATF action plan for supervisors, particularly in the non-financial sector. Notably, support was requested for the accountancy professions (chartered accountants and certified accountants), the legal professions (lawyers, notaries, adouls), dealers in precious stones and metals and traders in antiques or works of art, casinos and gambling establishments, as well as real estate agents.
The EU Global Facility began delivering online technical assistance activities to Morocco in November 2020, focusing on the topics on beneficial ownership and cryptocurrencies. The July 2022 onsite mission is expected to be followed by a number of technical training, workshops and conferences, where the issues of AML/CFT in the non-financial sector will be addressed.

ML/Tax crime workshop for Panama
2022-07-19 - 2022-07-21 | Panama, Panama
This activity replies to Panama’s request of technical assistance on IO 7, specifically to their priority of investigating money laundering with a tax offense committed abroad as a predicate offense.
The activity will be a first approach to this matter based on the experience from another jurisdiction, that of Andorra, which has had a similar evolution to the Panamanian one. A prosecutor from Andorra specialised in AML/CFT (and former FIU official) will explain the experience of Andorra: the evolution and situation of jurisdictions that have had a recent definition of tax crime in their jurisdictions and the changes and challenges that this has implied and still implies, in the internal and international sphere.
On the other hand, the activity will refer to the strategies that can be carried out in relatively small jurisdictions or of moderate dimensions in relation to the prosecution of money laundering from tax crime, particularly in the case of regional or international financial centres.

Press Release
EU Global Facility, National Commission Against Money Laundering of Panama hold training on tax offense investigation
Panama City/Brussels, 19 July 2022 – A virtual training on “Investigation of Money Laundering with a tax offense committed abroad as a predicate offense” was launched today, through a collaboration between the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT) and the National Commission against Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CNBC) of Panama.
Targeted at representatives of the judiciary, Public Prosecution, the Directorate of Judicial Investigation, the Financial Analysis Unit -UAF, the General Directorate of Revenues. Ministry of Economy and Finance and, as a national coordinator, the CNBC, the training is witnessing the participation of some 50 officials over the course of three days.
“In the last years, Panama took a number of important steps to conform its tax system to the highest international standards. The EU welcomes Panama’s reforms and progress on enhancing its legal and transparency standards by providing technical assistance through the EU GF-AML/CFT,” said Adolfo Campos, Political Adviser at the EU Delegation in Panama in his welcoming remarks.
For her part, Isabel Yadira Vecchio, Technical Secretary of the CNBC of Panama and National Coordinator for GAFILAT, stated: “Panama has developed constant strategies to promote, protect and defend our economy from the challenges it faces, as part of the changing world in which we live. In this sense, we have redoubled efforts with a view to promote not only regulatory changes at the forefront of the global movement, but also to achieve positive and tangible results that guarantee we can strengthen our AML system.”
The online training is part of a series of activities organised by the EU GF-AML/CFT to support Panama in rectifying deficiencies in its AML/CFT frameworks and upholding its compliance standards in this regard. More specifically, the technical assistance focuses on Panama’s fulfilment of the immediate results 5 and 7 of the Financial Action Task Force as adapted to the needs and priorities established by Panama.
The virtual course is intended to be followed by an onsite activity later on, where the issues of ML and tax crime committed abroad as well as the importance of international cooperation in combating those crimes will be addressed.

Jordan, Turkiye and Zambia working visit to Mauritius - Focus on Rec 8
2022-07-16 - 2022-07-21 | Mauritius, Mauritius
Mauritius has achieved excellent results in compliance with the FATF Rec 8 requirements, leading to its re-rating by the ESAAMLG.
Some of our experts are therefore in Mauritius this week, where they organise an information visit for representatives of authorities/regulators from Turkiye, Jordan and Zambia.
The visit, which spans from Monday to Thursday, aims at sharing best practices in the implementation of the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 8 on NPOs.
The visit began on Monday with country-based presentations of:
✔︎ Status with FATF evaluations
✔︎ Measures undertaken to implement FATF Rec 8/Immediate Outcome 10
✔︎ Results of risk assessment
✔︎ Introduction to the legal framework for NPOs

Africa Beneficial Ownership regional conference
2022-07-13 - 2022-07-14 | Africa
Thank you to over 300 participants in our joint regional webinar on “Transparency of beneficial ownership: from technical recommendations to implementation” held online last week in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the African Training Institute (ATI).
Coming from more than 40 countries across Africa, the event brought together representatives from commerce registers, central banks, FIU, procurement agencies and asset recovery agencies.
“The idea of this webinar was to take the path from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, and walk through all the steps a country needs to go through to implement a Beneficial Ownership Register,” explained Key Expert on BO Alexandre Taymans, adding “this marks the very first joint event between the EU Global Facility and IMF and ATI.”
The sessions were designed for national stakeholders typically involved in establishing, operating, and/or using beneficial ownership frameworks within their jurisdictions to enable them to acquire a comprehensive overview of :

????The technical requirements, including the new features of the revised Rec 24 and the ongoing FATF discussion on the revision of Rec 25;
????The available sources of BO information, including the best practices and key challenges that countries face while trying to address impediments to the various requirements of the FATF multi-pronged approach;
???? The EU Global Facility’s multistakeholder strategy to (i) enhance BO disclosure regimes and their effectiveness, and (ii) increase national, regional and international cooperation and networks on AML/CFT;
???? The business and technical requirements and operational aspects to consider when setting up a beneficial ownership registry;
???? The possible mechanisms aimed, during the different phases of a BO Register implementation, at ensuring that the beneficial ownership information is accurate and up to date as well as timely accessible.

Following these sessions, the event included an open discussion where practical case studies were discussed to highlight some of the points discussed in the morning. These included:

-The steps and elements to consider when designing and implementing a BOR (stakeholder engagement, procurement, monitoring)
-What are the control and verification mechanisms that can be implemented, and at what stage of the BOR implementation
-Exchange of country experiences from North Macedonia, Latvia, Ghana, Kenya.

BO discussion series : Registers, Targeted Financial Sanctions and Asset Tracing
2022-07-07
The second iteration of the BO Discussion Series of the EU Global Facility will focus on “BO Registers, Targeted Financial Sanctions and Asset Tracing. The work towards Global Asset Registries”.
This virtual workshop aims to present the challenges to obtain beneficial ownership information on assets to enforce sanctions and to tackle money laundering.
During the event, discussions will be held on policy measures to tackle those challenges and to improve beneficial ownership transparency on assets based on the experiences of country authorities and other stakeholders including the private sector and civil society organisations.

E-workshop on BO Register Implementation and the Control and Verification Mechanisms for Jamaica
2022-07-06 - 2022-07-08 | Jamaica, Jamaica
Our Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans moderated the first of two online workshops titled “Setting-up a BO Register : a focus on operational considerations, control and verification mechanisms” today.
Delivered to the Companies Office of Jamaica and the Central Bank of Jamaica the activity is designed to provide participants with first hand practical and workable information on how a Beneficial Ownership Register can be set-up as well as the ways in which control and mechanisms should be established to ensure that the BO information held in the register is accurate and up-to-date.
This activity is part of the unique peer-to-peer activities being delivered by the Global Facility to partners worldwide on the topic of Beneficial Ownership transparency.
This activity is also part of the ongoing review of the Regulatory framework being developed by Jamaica and the broader technical assistance provided by the EU Global Facility to the authorities and relevant entities in the field of AML/CFT in Jamaica.
Learn more here

BO discussions series 1: Disclosure frameworks and the NPO sector
2022-06-28
Joint activity launched by our Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership Alexandre Taymans and Key Expert on Justice/CSOs Mamuka Jgenti.
On 28 June 2022, they opened the first in a series of two online workshops titled “Beneficial Ownership disclosure frameworks and the NPO sector: implementation challenges and opportunities”.
This first workshop, which focuses on the regulatory context and the efficiency/effectiveness gaps in the sector, is gathering subject matter experts representing the various sectors and stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) beneficial ownership multi-pronged approach (e.g. NPOs, beneficial ownership registers, banking sector, RegTech, research).
The second workshop, scheduled for 5 July 2022, will focus on identifying concerns and discussing if and how BO Registers can address (some of) the concerns raised.
For each session, specific experts have been identified and will be invited to present and participate to the discussion on the topic at hand based on their background and area of expertise.
The objectives of these two workshops are to:

identify the impact observed of BO disclosure frameworks on the NPO sector,
discuss the possible ways in which to embed the risk based approach in the design of these framework,
how BO registers could serve as a tool to provide remedies to the unintended consequences on the NPO sector that have been observed over the years.

Further to these workshops, a joint report will be drafted by the Global NPO Coalition and the Global Facility that will detail the findings and possible ways in which this discussion could be brought forth.

Workshop on BO registers as Competent Authorities in Brussels
2022-06-23 - 2022-06-24 | Brussels, Belgium
The EU AML/CFT Global Facility is in the process of exploring the current approach to Beneficial Ownership Registers and exploring solutions and potential ways forward that can also be shared in the context of our technical assistance activities to partners jurisdictions. In particular, we are exploring the possibility of Beneficial Ownership Registers evolving into Competent Authorities.
In this context, the Global Facility organised a working group of experts who deal with these issues first-hand. The purpose of the event was to delve deeper into the topic, discuss challenges and lessons learnt and put forward an approach for more effective national and cross border beneficial ownership disclosure frameworks.
The session involved only a small number of participants from Beneficial Ownership Registers and FIUs, creating an opportunity to meet, network and exchange ideas with colleagues on a very topical matter.

In their words:
Alfred Zammit, Deputy Director at the Financial Intelligence Unit of Malta, reflects on the activity:
“It was a pleasure for me to be able to contribute to the interesting discussions that we had in Brussels, and to share Malta’s experiences and best practices on the topic of beneficial ownership,” he stated after the workshop.
“It was also interesting and useful to hear about the experiences, practices and challenges faced by our international colleagues from FIUs and BO registries, possible solutions, and above all, the different approaches implemented on the ground. There’s always so much to learn from each other. Bringing together several representatives from EU member states to have thought-provoking discussions on this topic in a frank and informal setting was a commendable initiative, and a great way to launch this project.”
“I hope we can continue to assist you with this project, and we look forward to its outcome. I have no doubt that the international AML/CFT community will find the guidance and assistance that will come out of this project incredibly useful to strengthen their framework when it comes to BO.”

E-training for Jamaican prosecutors on confiscation
2022-06-20 - 2022-06-24 | Jamaica, Jamaica
The e-training of Jamaican prosecutors on confiscation is the second e-training activity conducted with Jamaica under the Justice component.
Participants shall be from prosecutions service and the event is a part of the technical assistance under the justice component recently launched with the Jamaican authorities.
This e-training shall focus on the following topics: International standards on ML and confiscation, introduction to ML; Continuation of introduction to money laundering, elements of crime, types of ML, standard of proof, use of typologies, etc.

Regional conference on use of AML/CFT in Investigation of Art & Antiquities Criminality
2022-06-14 - 2022-06-16 | Cairo, Egypt
Regional conference on illicit art trafficking launched in Cairo
Cairo, 14 June 2022 – Participants from 14 countries of the MENA region on Tuesday convened in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilizations of Cairo, Egypt, to partake in the “Regional Conference on the use of AML/CFT in the investigation of Art and Antiquities Criminality” organised by the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (EU GF-AML/CFT).
Held under the patronage of the Egyptian Anti-Money Laundering Unit (AMLU), the three-day event is witnessing the participation of some 90 high-level participants from MENA, the EU and international institutions such as UNODC and Interpol.
In his opening remarks, Dr Khaled El-Anany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, stressed the importance that the Egyptian state attaches to raising the value of its cultural property and increasing awareness of the value of its cultural heritage, citing the unprecedented budget dedicated to the field of antiquities and museums in recent years, which allowed for the opening of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization among others.
“Illegal trade in cultural property is one of the most important challenges facing Egypt, like many countries of ancient civilizations in the world, and it is no secret that the market for art and antiquities, besides being an arena for the illicit circulation of cultural property, it is also an ideal arena for money laundering,” he stressed, highlighting the “State’s obligation to protect, preserve, and maintain antiquities, and recover what was seized from them, as well as the prohibition of gifting or exchanging any of them, and considering the attack and trafficking in them a crime that does not fall under the statute of limitations.”
“There is a high correlation between the increase in art trafficking and organised crime. In the past years, Egypt has taken numerous measures to identify, investigate and tackle this type of trafficking,” said Judge Ahmed Said Khalil, Chairman of the Board of Trustees – AML/CFT Unit of Egypt.
He added: “Over the past 7 years, 29,000 antiquities have been recovered by the Arab Republic of Egypt, in collaboration with relevant entities and institutions in partner countries including France, Germany, Jordan, the US, Mexico (among many others).”
The first in a series of four regional conferences to be organised through 2024, the event will consist of a series of presentations by international experts on money laundering, terrorist financing and illicit art trafficking, as well as a hands-on case study examining the routes and and methodologies used by criminal networks involved in the looting or theft of antiquities and art.
“Today’s conference is an important building block in fighting criminality in art and antiquities. The EU Global Facility is a crucial project in the fight against ML/TF in all its forms, including the trafficking of art and antiquities. With the presence of delegates from 14 countries, the EU and the UN will certainly bring a wealth of experience in art and antiquities investigations. More importantly it will allow identifying potential solutions and recommendations to be brought to the next conference,” said Christian Berger, EU Ambassador to Egypt.
Ultimately, the conference will aim to build the capability of both public and private sectors to share information, identify problems and solutions to this type of crime. It also seeks to raise awareness of the issues, and increase the capability of all actors involved to reduce and counter the ML/FT penetration of these lucrative markets and protect a country’s heritage.

E-training on Recommendation 8 Turkey
2022-06-14 - 2022-06-15
This e-training is part of a series of online capacity building e-training delivered by the EU Global Facility to the regulators from Turkey on the FATF Rec 8 requirements.

Regional conference on consequences of financial sanctions on NPOs with regards to FATF Rec 8
2022-06-07 - 2022-06-09 | Tsibili, Georgia
This regional workshop is held in Tbilisi, Georgia and is organised by the EU Global Facility in partnership with the Global NPO Coalition on FATF, the European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law, CSO Meter as well as the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information.
It will witness the participation of representatives from the European Commission, NPOs and law enforcement agencies’ representatives, among others.

BO Guidance and Trainig Programme workshop in Jordan
2022-06-06 - 2022-06-09 | Jordan
AMMAN, 5 June 2022– The EU Global Facility on Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism in cooperation with the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Unit and the Central Bank of Jordan organised a series of multi-stakeholders trainings to present the upcoming Beneficial Ownership Guidance and discuss the effective implementation of international standards related to the transparency of beneficial ownership.
These training sessions are conducted in the framework of the implementation of the technical assistance programme funded by the European Union to support Jordan in enhancing beneficial ownership transparency in the country, which resulted in the preparation by the CBJ of a new guidance on BO transparency for reporting entities subject to the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Law. This new guidance will assist these reporting entities to identify the beneficial owners of legal persons and legal arrangements in compliance with the requirements of the customer due diligence measures they are required to conduct.
These sessions, held in Amman, were delivered by international experts from the EU Global Facility and covered topics such as how criminals misuse corporate entities to commit financial crime, the FATF and EU beneficial ownership disclosure standards, and approaches and operational considerations relating to identifying of red flags of corporate entities misuse as part of regulatory authorisations and ongoing supervision. Practical case studies were also discussed with the participants.
The Central Bank of Jordan team also presented the new guidance on BO transparency and encouraged the audience to provide feedback on the content so has to complement it prior to its publication.
Deputy Chief of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Unit of Jordan, Ala’ Bani Fawaz, stressed the importance of identifying the BO from corporate entities in order to prevent their misuse in committing financial crimes, money laundering and terrorist financing.
He also presented key points of the guidance that will be officially issued soon, which contains useful practical examples and guidance for the entities on how to identify the ultimate beneficial ownership within legal structures.
M. Alexandre Taymans, Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership for the Global Facility praised the dedication of the Jordanian authorities and the efforts made since the start of the joint work with the Global Facility in January 2021 in implementing measures to enhance the transparency of legal persons within the jurisdiction, pointing to the need to focus as from now on their effective implementation.

E-training Ministry of Justice of Turkiye on confiscation
2022-06-06 - 2022-06-08 | Turkey, Turkey
This is the first technical assistance activity delivered by the EU GF to Turkiye under the justice component for Turkiye.
Representatives of the Ministry of Justice shall be trained on best practices of confiscation.

Joint session with ESAAMLG on “Transparency and BO of LP/LA: from risk understanding to risk mitigating”
2022-05-27
Today the EU Global Facility, under the supervision of Alexandre Taymans, opened the first working session on “Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements: from risk understanding to risk mitigating”.
Organised jointly with the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (“ESAAMLG”) Secretariat and their BO Project Team composed of representatives from Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the session focused on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Rec24, Rec25 and Immediate Outcome 5.
The joint session aimed at promoting effective implementation of national beneficial ownership frameworks. It forms part of wider joint work currently conducted by the ESAAMLG to develop a toolkit aimed at assisting their members in assessing the risk related to the misuse of legal persons and arrangements for money laundering and terrorism financing purposes.
“This session has been designed to build the foundation of the future activities that will be conduct in the coming weeks and that will more specifically focus on the ways in which jurisdictions can conduct their risk assessment of LP/LA,” said Alexandre Taymans, EU GF Key Expert on #BO.
This activity will also feed in other activities to increase awareness and understanding of how beneficial ownership opacity contributes to the facilitation of financial crime and other illicit activities.
This first session explored the nuances of the concepts of legal ownership, beneficial ownership and control and unravelled key concepts in FATF’s Recommendations 24 (and its Interpretative Note) and 25.
The group explored the ways in which criminals misuse corporate entities, looking at real-life examples of how shell companies and opaque and complex ownership chains are abused to, amongst others, commit fraud, be involved in corruption, hide wealth and launder proceeds of crime.
Also discussed were the typical weaknesses in current national BO frameworks, such as limited powers of BO registers, striking the balance between the need for privacy and that for transparency, failures on the part of sectoral supervisors to identify red flags and lack of international cooperation.
The topic of implementation in practice wrapped up the session with a debate around what FATF standards mean in practice and how countries can translate them into effective national framework to prevent and detect the misuse of corporate entities.
In the coming weeks, another session will explore approaches to the assessment of BO-related risks at the national level, translating into practice lessons learnt from this initial session and looking at how to map key issues surrounding the topic in a way that allows jurisdictions to address them.
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