Baku, Azerbaijan, March 16
Trend:
The BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade) held a seminar in Baku on March 13, 2018 on Financial Crime Compliance.
The one-day training was hosted by Azerbaijan's Kapital Bank, which is a member of this association since 2016. Baku was chosen for the training along with London, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai and Orlando (Florida, USA).
The fighting financial crimes has become a worldwide issue nowadays. As various surveys showed that about 49 percent of companies in the world somehow faced financial and economic crimes in 2017. In this context, retraining and advancing the qualifications of employees in the financial sector is even more important now.
The participants of this program learned about the necessary regulatory requirements for fighting financial crimes, the importance of having an adequate internal organization, the principle of "three lines of defense" in compliance to identify customers and reduce potential risks. Furthermore, the latest trends and standards in the field of fighting against financing terrorism and money laundering were presented to the attendees.
Bankers and compliance specialists also discussed regulatory requirements and recent developments in combating financial crime with local and internal perspectives.
“Given the concern of correspondent banking de-risking in Azerbaijan, we hope that this training provides added clarity regarding the compliance expectations of both international regulators and correspondent banks, which may help local banks improve correspondent relationships.”, commented Tod Burwell, BAFT President and CEO.
The economy of Azerbaijan is the biggest in the South Caucasus. The grandiose projects, like the Southern Gas Corridor, Baku International Sea Trade Port, North-South, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and many others attract investments from around the world and at the same time, contribute to the development of international trade and economies of other countries.
As a result, Azerbaijan is becoming a major trade and financial center of the region. Therefore, it has become increasingly important to the stakeholders and participants of financial sector to acquire knowledge of the latest trends, best practices in combating financial crimes and money laundering.
The BAFT seminar, organized with the support of Kapital Bank, will make significant contributions to the development of skills of Azerbaijani bankers and will support the further growth of the financial sector, helping to comply with current international standards and supervisory expectations for correspondent banking.