On 28 March and 9 April 2018, MONEYVAL continued its series of roundtables on correspondent banking (“Re-connecting the de-risked”) with events in Frankfurt (Main) and London.
Each roundtable brought together around 40-50 participants from global financial institutions, respondent banks from several MONEYVAL jurisdictions and relevant international organisations (e.g. the European Commission, the Financial Action Task Force, FATF; the Financial Stability Board; and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). Amongst the numerous speakers at the workshops was Mr David Lewis (FATF Executive Secretary), Mr Wim Mijs (Chief Executive of the European Banking Federation), Mr Gil Thomson (Deputy Director, Sanctions and Illicit Finance, UK Treasury), Mr Jens Führhoff (Head of Department, German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) and Mr Daniel Thelesklaf (President of MONEYVAL).
Correspondent banking is essential for customer payments, especially across borders, and for the access of banks themselves to foreign financial systems. In many MONEYVAL jurisdictions, de-risking has occurred and, as a consequence, the money laundering and terrorist financing risks have increased. The roundtables aimed at informing about the work of MONEYVAL, in particular about the mutual evaluation process and how MONEYVAL reports can be used by global financial institutions. It also sought to clarify the regulatory expectations and explain the relevant global standard set by the FATF for the provision of correspondent banking.
The roundtables formed part of a series of events on de-risking organised by MONEYVAL, which had started in October 2017 with workshops in Washington D.C. and New York City. MONEYVAL would like to warmly thank Deutsche Bank for hosting the event in Frankfurt, and UK Finance for hosting the event in London.
