Tom Alweendo: Announcement of the commencement date of the
Financial Intelligence Act 2007
Speech by Mr Tom Alweendo, Governor of Bank of Namibia, at launching the awareness
campaign on provisions of the Financial Intelligence Act 2007, Windhoek, 29 April 2009.
* * *
Distinguished Invited Guests;
Members of the media;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I would like to welcome all of you to the Bank of Namibia this morning. The occasion today is
to officially launch the commencement of the Financial Intelligence Act and to also launch our
public awareness campaign.
As you are all by now aware, the Financial Intelligence Act was enacted in 2007. The Act
empowers the Bank of Namibia, amongst others to receive suspicious transaction reports
from reporting entities, to analyze such reports, and to disseminate the intelligence gathered
to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution. The Bank is
further required to conduct compliance audits with all reporting entities to ensure effective
adherence to this Act. The key in combating money laundering through the reporting entities
is to know who their customers are. If they know their customers well, they will be able to
detect attempts at money laundering.
In fulfilling this mandate, since 2007 we have been preparing ourselves to be ready with the
implementation of the Act. In this respect, I am happy to say that we have managed to build
the necessary capacity and that we are more than ready to implement the Act.
Due to some legislative delays, the Bank was not able to commence with the implementation
of the Act as early as we would have wished. However, I am happy to report that the
commencement date for the Act is now set to be the 1st May 2009. In order to educate the
public on money laundering, we are also starting with a comprehensive awareness
campaign. This is necessary because we are only likely to successfully combat money
laundering when the public in general understand as to what is at stake.
Financial crime, of which money laundering is part, is increasingly becoming a global
phenomenon. This is despite the enactment of laws designed to curb financial crime. This is
not only a threat to the global financial sector, but if allowed to flourish money laundering has
the potential to become a threat to society. It can lead to the accumulation of economic
power to organized crime. This development has the potential of eroding our political and
social systems based on elected representation as we know them today. In other words, the
social consequences for allowing money launderers to operate unchecked could spell
disaster for stability and the rule of law.
Law enforcement agencies are overwhelmed by the sheer size and sophistication that
criminals are now employing to perpetrate their illegal deeds. The efforts on crime prevention
are now compounded by globalization that has created what one may say is a global
economy in which organized crime groups and individuals can and do generate huge sums
of money. Money laundering is therefore a global problem which requires a concerted global
response. In order to protect our respective financial systems from the destabilizing effects of
crime and money laundering, it is imperative that we act and respond to this scourge with
unmatched resolve and commitment to combating it. Everybody has, therefore, a
responsibility to combat money laundering, because its negative impact has a unique way of
creating far ranging negative consequences.
The financial sector, in particular the banking sector, more than any sectors, needs to
operate in a crime and money laundering free environments. We all know that banks deal
with other people's money and therefore rely heavily on reputation for integrity. Without the
public confidence from the law abiding citizenry it would be difficult for financial institutions to
conduct business in the form they do now. It is also conceivable that money laundering, if
perpetrated on a high scale, would complicate the ability of financial institutions to manage
their operations and risks.
Another consequence of money laundering on a grand scale is that it may erode the
effectiveness and management of monetary policy, because of its potential of changing the
demand for cash in the economy. Money laundering is also bad for the economy and
development in that it undermines legitimate business, competition and reduces the tax
revenue to national authorities as launderers would be operating underground outside the tax
net.
The combating of money laundering presupposes the existence of capacity and resources at
national level. In many of developing countries, this is a real challenge in that there are
competing demands with regards to the utilization of scarce resources. The scarcity of
resources is more critical in the law enforcement spheres, since most national jurisdictions
have less than efficient law enforcement agencies which are in most cases overwhelmed by
the demands to enforce other national laws.
In conclusion, I would like to urge members of the public to look out for information on
combating money laundering, starting next week. I look forward to everyone's participation in
effectively combating money laundering.
I thank you for your attention.