AML/CFT March Newsletter

June 26, 2018

In this update

In this update we announce that New Zealand’s leading AML conference, the AML SUMMIT will be opened by the Commissioner of Police, followed by a keynote speaker from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Early-bird pricing is still available and details of the conference are below.

On Day 1 we will hold an AML BASE CAMP for Phase 2 entities and those new to AML Compliance.

AML Base Camp speakers will include:
Ministry of Justice, Financial Intelligence Unit, NZ Police, Department of Internal Affairs, Milford Asset Management, AML Solutions.

Day 2 is the main AML SUMMIT and will be packed with highly practical and engaging content and MC’d by Rawdon Christie.

AML SUMMIT speakers will include:
NZ Police, Financial Action Task Force, Forsyth Barr, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, NZ Police Financial Intelligence Unit, Ministry of Justice, Department of Internal Affairs, Financial Markets Authority, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, AML Solutions.

In The News

FMA releases ‘Fair dealing in advertising and communications – crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending’ publication

Last week the FMA published a guidance for licensed crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms.

The review focuses on promotional material used in local business and questions if advertising is indeed meeting the ‘fair dealing’ expectations placed on service providers and the companies that offer financial products via these platforms.

As a newly licensed population, the FMA guidance has set out to assist with promoting & marketing expectations from licensed crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms.

The fair dealing requirements in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 forbids:

misleading and deceptive conduct
false or misleading representations
unsubstantiated representations
offers of financial products in the course of unsolicited meetings.

“This guidance has been provided to assist a new area of financial services and to ensure our requirements are understood. Care should be taken when comparing products and services, and to ensure a balanced message about risk and returns is presented.” Garth Stanish, FMA Director of Capital Markets

A copy of the guidance can be found here

More than $1.35 billion-worth of illicit funds from fraud, tax offending and drug trafficking is ending up in New Zealand to be laundered every year.

The latest annual National Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment report says innocent New Zealand businesses in the property, financial, retail, and legal sectors are being targeted by fraudsters and criminals.

A recent report from the NZ Police Financial Intelligence Unit has stated more than $1.35 billion-worth of illegal funds from fraud, tax offending and drug trafficking are ending up in New Zealand to be laundered. This figure doesn’t include overseas proceeds of crime, which potentially makes for even higher numbers. The NZ Police have stated that the 2013 anti-money laundering legislation drastically raised reporting of suspicious transactions from less than $1 billion in 2012-2013, to a high of almost $9 billion in 2014-2015.

John Shewen’s 2016 report also prompted the number of foreign trusts to fall from 12,000 to 3,000 – an obvious sign many were holding illegitimate funds. Now the same thing needs to happen with foreign companies, and an open public register of overseas company owners and trusts is being called for by Transparency International in New Zealand.

Read the full article here.