How can financial institutions get on top of trade finance risk? What controls should be in place to combat trade-based financial crimes? And what role can data analytics play in that fight?
Trade-based money laundering (TBML), trade mis-invoicing, and abusive profit shifting present serious threats to the integrity of financial institutions (FIs), countries, and the global financial system. The problem is growing, as the increasing scale and complexity of global trade make it an ever more attractive channel for criminal organisations, professional money launderers and terrorist groups to move and disguise illicit funds. In 2017, trade-related illicit financial flows between the 135 developing countries and 36 economies alone were estimated at US$817.6 billion.
The attention placed on trade finance risk by governments and global regulatory bodies looks set to increase, with global trade in goods during the first quarter of 2021 exceeding pre-pandemic levels, and with the expansion in online business, the introduction of new technologies and the digitalisation of trade processes. However, as pressure mounts on FIs to detect and counter these illicit activities, many organisations still rely on manual processing of trade finance transactions.
In this webinar, chaired by ICA Vice President Pekka Dare, a panel of TBML experts will discuss current challenges of – and approaches to – detecting illicit activities in trade finance. This will include best practice insights on how to receive trade transactions and review red flags, as well as guidance on the use of data sets to determine value and volume gaps in commodity trades and to evaluate individual trade transactions for suspicious activity.