Digital and financial technology companies have partnered with the Anti-Money Laundering Council as part of efforts to fight money laundering and terrorism financing in the country.
The Fintech Alliance.ph recently signed an Information Sharing Protocol (ISP) with the AMLC amid the rising number of digital transactions due to mobility restrictions in the country to slow the speed of COVID infections.
“The partnership between the public and private sector aims to eliminate money laundering activities, terrorism financing, and other illegal activities that may negatively disrupt the country’s financial ecosystem,” Fintech Alliance.ph founding chairman Lito Villanueva said.
The increased use of fintech applications over the course of the pandemic has led to a significant increase in the number of digital transactions in the Philippines. As such, it gave rise to concerns such as online fraud and cyberattacks that could jeopardize the trust of various stakeholders in the country’s financial system.
AMLC Secretariat executive director Mel Georgie Racela said sharing of information is crucial in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.
Both parties also agreed to collaborate in the areas of information exchange, and capacity building to enhance each other’s abilities to address money laundering, terrorism, and terrorism financing concerns.
The partnership institutionalizes an effective documentation mechanism that performs targeted suspicious transaction monitoring and reporting and develops valuable or breakthrough investigative leads. By signing the ISP agreement, both parties hope to continue upholding the trust that stakeholders have invested to the country’s financial system through the years.
The partnership between Fintech Alliance.ph and the AMLC will be helpful for the country that has recently been reincluded by the Financial Action Task Force in the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring after the country failed to address the technical deficiencies raised by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering under the October 2019 Mutual Evaluation Report.
The country needs more of these types of public-private partnerships that can protect and raise the reputation of the Philippines in the international community.*
