Panama continues fight against money laundering, terrorist financing with EU Global Facility support
Panamá City, 5 March 2023 – The Superintendency of Non-Financial Entities (SSNF) and the EU Global Facility on Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) launched on Monday a three-day workshop on the topic of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing in Panama City.
This workshop seeks to build on the work already conducted by the Panamanian authorities (bank supervisors, FIU, prosecution service and law enforcement authorities, tax authorities, ministry of economy and finance, IT administration) on the topic of “Beneficial Ownership Registers as Competent Authorities”.
In the opening remarks, Héctor Alexander, Minister of Economy and Finance and President of the National Commission against Money Laundering, as well as President of the Boar of Directors of the SSNF, said that “The Registry of Beneficial Owners is already a fully operational system, and is based on 4 pillars, which are: the registry of resident agents, the inclusion of BO information in the system, the verification process and access to the information by the competent authority in a timely manner”; “The effective implementation of this registry is part of the actions we are taking in order to complete our Action Plan with FATF, and it is the responsibility and commitment of both the private sector and the government.”
Commending the work carried out by Panama so far, Izabela Matusz, the European Union Ambassador to Panama, underlined that “Today marks the 13th activity co-organised with the EU Global Facility in Panama, which demonstrates the strong collaboration with technical assistance providers and Panama’s dedication to strengthen its AML/CFT framework in order to better comply with the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations.”
Over the next three days, Beneficial Ownership experts from Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta are going to engage with the audience on the role that their BO Registry is playing in the beneficial ownership model of their jurisdiction, the challenges they have faced and the solutions they have implemented.
EU Global Facility Key Expert on Beneficial Ownership, Alexandre Taymans, commended the “successful work and important efforts put together by the SSNF and other Panamanian authorities since the first joint activity back in November 2021”. Topics included in the agenda cover legal and regulatory considerations, supervision and onsite inspection, data analytics and the role of IT systems, as well as interagency cooperation, among others.
This project is funded by the European Union.