John Culatto
BANKS declared more suspicious activity reports (SARs) in 2022 than the year before, the Gibraltar Financial Intelligence Unit (GFIU) revealed in its annual report.
The unit puts this down to its award-winning outreach program, Project Nexus, which has introduced an e-learning platform with over 500 users.
The latest report, that includes strategic analysis since 2019, is helping authorities learn how criminals and terrorists launder cash.
The new data will allow the GFIU to take the measures it needs to avoid those risks in the future.
GFIU’s director Edgar Lopez said that innovation and technology had helped overcome the challenges of 2022.
Last year the Financial Action Task Force greylisted the Rock for not doing enough to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
“We have learnt a lot during the FATF post observation period and we acted with agility to meet the recommendations,” Lopez said.
“We took decisive steps to align our structure to meet demand and new challenges, particularly in strategic analysis and data quality analysis.”
The GFIU report also highlighted the success of the private-public partnership to fight financial crime.
The Financial Liaison and Intelligence Network (FLINT) got a further boost after signing a deal with the UK’s money laundering taskforce.
The most common criminal activities that continue to be reported are money laundering and fraud.
Lopez said the new three year strategic plan, based on four high-level priorities, has taken into account ‘Moneyval and FATF processes’.
Minister for Justice Samantha Sacramento praised the GFIU’s work and the new plan for the future.
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