The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the National Bank of Ukraine, delivered a comprehensive training to non-banking financial institutions in better delivering on their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations.
As the National Bank of Ukraine has under its supervision the largest population of reporting entities, the list of training participants was broad and very diverse. Training participants included representatives of insurance companies; credit unions; pawnshops and other financial entities; payment organisations; and other institutions that offer money transfer services as well as currency transactions services. In total, 864 participants benefited from the thematic training sessions, with an average of 172 participants per session over the course of five sessions.
The training covered all aspects pertaining to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist (AML/CTF) financing obligations of the reporting entities. Participants were offered an overview of the relevant regulatory framework, the oversight and governance, and the predicate offences that comprise financial crime. Following this initial framing on the topic, participating officials, and practitioners advanced their understanding of the financial crime risk exposure through business-wide risk assessment, and customer risk assessments. In so doing, participants discussed, customer due diligence (CDD) requirements as well as sanction screening. Ongoing compliance, including monitoring, screening, KYC reviews and the role of the second and third lines of defence in testing and auditing programs, were also part of the agenda. Covering all phases of AML/CTF system, the training concluded with some notions on reporting suspicious activity, including detection, analysis and reporting requirements.
Through case studies and practical exercises, the training aimed at developing hands-on practical skills so that the non-banking financial institutions regulations can better deliver on their AML/CTF obligations including for reporting relevant information to support the effective prevention and fight against of money laundering and terrorist financing.
This activity was organised within the framework of the Project on “Strengthening measures to counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Ukraine”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II.