NEED TO STRENGTHEN ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING EFFORTS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Efforts to strengthen the anti-money
laundering and the combating of the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime
needs to be intensified to maintain financial stability, according to Bank
Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's Central Bank).

Its deputy governor Zamani Abdul Ghani said robust AML/CFT regimes could
benefit individual countries as enhanced financial sector integrity and
stability facilitated their integration into the global financial system.

"They will also contribute to more transparent governance and effective
fiscal administration," he said in his keynote address at the International
Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing Conference 2009 here Thursday.

Zamani said the lack of AML/CFT regime could contribute to undermine the
soundness and stability of financial institutions and systems, discourage
foreign investment, and distort international capital flows.

"The global financial crisis amplifies such risks," he said.

For Malaysia, the government has put in place a strategic focus in
strengthening the national AML/CFT regime, Zamani said.

Collaboration and cooperation among key stakeholders is strengthened and the
public-private sector partnership enhanced as synchronised actions deliver
better result, he said.

Zamani said the move to increase resources for money laundering and
terrorism financing investigations by the domestic law enforcement agencies,
which currently is the emerging trend, needed to be supported with swift actions
from Bank Negara's Financial Intelligence Unit and prompt response from
reporting institutions.

"Another is that, at the international level, Malaysia will continue to
enhance multilateral and bilateral relationships," he said.

According to Zamani, there is also a need to provide greater focus in
enhancing the competency and capacity of key stakeholders, especially the
analysts, law enforcement officers and compliance officers.

"We plan to roll out capacity building programmes for analysts and
enforcement officers covering fundamental, intermediate and advance level
training programmes," he said.

The Certified Financial Investigators Programme, Bank Negara's flagship
basic programme for financial investigators, has produced 83 investigators with
knowledge on the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 as
well as financial investigation techniques.

"It also important to further improve the quality of analysis and improve
the compliance level among the reporting institutions in order to preserve the
integrity and stability of the financial system," Zamani said.

"We expect the board of directors and senior management of institutions to
play their roles in ensuring that the compliance programme is fully implemented
and that any money laundering and terrorism financing activities are promptly
detected and reported," he said.
-- BERNAMA