Saturday, March 26, 2011

ABS's Countering Financing of Terrorism Seminar

The seminar has been impressive. Organised by ABS and supported by the Consortium for Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CCFT), today's CFT seminar marked the consortium's 8th annual event. With more than 300 participants, comprising mostly senior bank officers who are directly responsible to oversee the banks' AML/CFT procedures and measures, the seminar's main objective was to continuously increase the bankers' awareness level on AML/CFT practices. The opening remarks was delivered by Mr Ray Ferguson, Vice Chairman ABS/Regional CEO, Singapore & SEA, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore. A keynote address titled "Old Threats, New Threats: Do We Need New Solutions and Counter Measures?" was presented by Mr Michael Chandler, International Consultant - Security and Terrorism, Germany. This was followed by a seminal paper "Issues and Trends in OFAC Sanctions Risk" by Ms Wendy Wysong, Partner, Clifford Chance US LLP, USA. Then, there was a Panel Discussion to discuss on the issue of "Terrorism Financing - Credit Card, Bank and Cheque Frauds". The panel discussion was moderated by Mr Ian Wong, who is the Assistant Director, Financial Investigation Division, Commercial Affairs Department, Singapore.
Meanwhile, the three panelists were namely Prof Dr Normah Omar, ARI Director; Gen Rodolfo Mendoza, President, Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence & Terrorism Research and Police Col Dr Seehanat Prayoonrat, Acting Secretary General, AML Office, Thailand. After the lunch break, participants were divided into two interactive workshops covering the topics (i) What More Can Banks and Financial Institutions Do and (ii) Monitoring and Surveillance. Prof Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research NTU delivered the final seminar paper titled "Terrorist Financial Infrastructure in South East Asia". The closing remarks were iterated by Ms Yvette Cheak, Chairman, ABS Standing Committee on Self-Governance and Compliance. Congratulations ABS for a very successful seminar.

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