SA finance head to chair global body
12 July 2013
South Africa's financial intelligence head, Murray Michell, has been appointed to chair the Egmont Group, an international organisation tasked with combating unlawful financial activities.
Michell, who heads the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), was announced as the
new chairman during the 21st Egmont Plenary meeting held at Sun City in South
Africa's North West province last week.
The FIC collects and analyses data sourced from reports submitted by accountable
and reporting institutions and provides the analysis to law enforcement authorities
and the South African Revenue Service to follow up.
The Egmont Group was formed in 1995 to provide a platform for Financial Intelligence
Units (FIUs) to improve the coordination and exchange of financial intelligence and
support to national anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing programmes.
'Protecting financial system integrity'
"I am honoured
to be elected as the chair of the Egmont Group and shall work to
honour the trust you have placed in me," Michell said.
"There is a huge amount of work to do. But the Egmont Group has built a wonderful
platform on which to work. It is important for us to show the relevance of financial
intelligence in solving crime and protecting the integrity of the financial system."
The plenary drew 380 representatives of FIUs from 107 jurisdictions, along with 15
international organisations, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Interpol, the UNODC, Wolfsberg Group
and others.
The heads of FIU meeting brings together Egmont member-FIUs and observers for in-depth discussions and training sessions.
Developing financial intelligence
The representatives discussed ways to meet the challenges faced by FIUs in
combating money laundering and terrorist financing, especially in the areas of
international co-operation, information sharing and the improved development of
financial intelligence.
Addressing the opening of the plenary, Michell highlighted the important role of the
Egmont Group in developing greater understanding of the threats and problems faced within different regional and country contexts, and enhancing the group's capacity to better address these.
"Rhino poaching is an example of high importance to us. Greater cooperation and
information exchange between Financial Intelligence Units can help to bring this
scourge to a halt," he said.
The plenary co-chair Boudewijn Verhelst, the Belgian FIU deputy director, said South Africa had been an active and respected member of the Egmont Group since it joined the organisation in 2003.
"The hosting of the Egmont Plenary, as well as South Africa's involvement and
leadership in many other prestigious international bodies, signals the strong
commitment of South Africa in
preventing and combating money laundering and
terrorist financing not only in this beautiful country, but also in the region," he said.
Source: SANews.gov.za
South Africa has a strong banking system and deep local financial markets. (Image: Savant)
