Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak: Combatting money laundering and
terrorism financing
Speech by H E Dr Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary
Agency and Chairman of Anti-Money Laundering Permanent Committee, to the 51th Plenary
Meeting of Middle East & North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), Jeddah,
28 April 2012.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to welcome you in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also gives me pleasure to
meet you all in this important regional meeting which is the 51th Meeting of MENAFATF. The
meeting encompasses many essential and important issues of common interest and ways
that would, in turn, promote cooperation to better levels. All peoples count on the unique role
played by your Task Force to protect countries of this region against repercussions of money
laundering and financing terrorism crimes. I wish your meeting all success and wish you all a
good stay in Jeddah.
Dear Audience,
Increasing attention has been paid to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing
systems over the past years. This has been due to the great progress witnessed in financial
and banking systems, diversity of communication means, simplicity of money movement and
advanced payment systems. However, the speed factor in conducting commercial
transactions, existence of indirect financial operations and unreal existence of dealers have
led to great risks. Some of these risks are: potential abuse of these developments in
performing illegal objectives. Combating money laundering crimes and countering terrorism
financing are among the priorities that the international society is seeking to achieve to
protect the global financial system and counter risks that might obstruct the course of secure
commercial transactions among countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are pleased to host this meeting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in pursuance of the
Kingdom's plans of sponsoring and supporting international and regional efforts in this area.
The efforts, which were initiated at the early 09s, are promising to combat such risks by
issuing laws and setting up measures and regulations that ensure monitoring activities and
early detection and prevention of financial crimes and taking actions against perpetrators.
This is clear evidence of the Kingdom's compliance with the international community's
requirements in this respect. The Kingdom spares no effort in combating money laundering
and terrorism financing, boosting the role and effectiveness of national agencies concerned
with the systems related to combating such financial crimes to cope with international
developments, and increase the level and effectiveness of appropriate agencies working in
this field.
It is worth mentioning here the approval by the Council of Ministers of updating the AML Law
to fully comply with international requirements, especially with the assessment team's
recommendations stated in the Assessment Report on the Kingdom. This is a clear sign of
the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' attention paid to compliance
with combating money laundering and terrorism financing in line with international standards
in this regards.
Dear Audience,
The international, regional and national combined efforts to combat money laundering and
terrorism financing are stringent evidence of combating those crimes and the consequent
economic, social and security risks they may cause. Accordingly, the Kingdom has supported
efforts aimed at developing international frameworks capable of monitoring the global
financial system to detect such offenses. The Kingdom is one of the countries that
participated in and called for the creation of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action
Task Force. It is still supporting all the efforts of the FATF and MENAFATF, whether through
its permanent participation in work teams and supporting activities that enhance the work of
the two entities or through its commitment to raise the level of its government organs,
financial and non-financial institutions and making sure that its related laws are in line with
the international requirements. In addition, it supports the IMF's Technical Assistance Fund.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
To achieve our objective, we should work together to promote awareness of the gravity of
such crimes and protect all segments of the society, its government organizations, and
financial and non-financial institutions. In this aspect, I would like to refer to the recent
FATF's recommendations issued to strengthen the international efforts in the fight against
this global scourge and make necessary adjustments to the systems and techniques of their
detection and combating. On this occasion, I would like make reference to the results
achieved by FATF, after reviewing and revising the recommendations. There is no doubt that
the updated recommendations will enhance the level and methods of protection of the
economic system against such type of crimes threatening it.
In conclusion, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude for your respected group for its
achievements accomplished during its short life, wishing you continued success. I thank the
organizers for their efforts. I also welcome you again in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and I
hope that your meetings in this session will be a success.