Benjamin E Diokno: Fighting money laundering and terrorism
financing
Speech by Mr Benjamin E Diokno, Governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central
bank of the Philippines), at the Anti-Money Laundering Council's 19th Anniversary, 20 October
2020.
* * *
Ladies and gentlemen of the AMLC Secretariat. Good afternoon to everyone.
I am delighted to be with you today on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the AMLC. This
year, we celebrate under unprecedented circumstances.
Not only are we allies in fighting money laundering and terrorism financing, but, along with the
rest of the world, we are fighting an invisible but deadly virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused us grief and fear, both as individuals and as a nation. But it
has also compelled us to address our weaknesses and to shift our assumptions and biases
toward fresh, if not better, possibilities.
Though the pandemic has brought the world to a slowdown and even to a halt, during the first
few months, the AMLC soldiered on against money laundering and terrorism financing. And we
have the following milestones to show for it.
First-as the pandemic has presented an opportunity for money launderers and other criminals
-the AMLC initiated and conducted an analysis of the financial crime landscape,covering a
period of the pandemic and using suspicious transaction reports (STRs) submitted by covered
persons.
The AMLC's "Covid-19 Financial Crime Trend Analysis and Typologies Brief" has since been
disseminated to supervising agencies, appropriate government agencies, law enforcement
agencies, several financial intelligence units, and Public-Private Partnership Program partners.
The report has also been shared with the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering and the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF); and a redacted version has been made available online. An
update of the study, which expands the data set, will soon be released as well.
It is interesting to note that one of the top reasons for STR filing, based on the study, are
associated with violations of the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009. Child exploitation-related
STRs increased in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
This increase may be primarily due to the AMLC's 2019 study on online child sexual abuse and
exploitation (CSAE).
The AMLC's supplemental study on the online sexual exploitation of children observes that its
2019 study on CSAE has prompted covered persons to proactively report STRs, which led to the
identification of an additional 700 persons of interests.
AMLC's study on CSAE also paved the way for the creation of the Egmont Information Exchange
Working Group (IEWG) on CSAE, bringing together the United Kingdom Financial Intelligence
Unit, Australian Transaction Report and Analysis Centre, and the AMLC as project leads.
In view of the increasing risk of online CSAE during the pandemic, the group completed the
"Combatting Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation through Financial Intelligence: Project Report,"
producing a consolidated list of financial indicators and keywords that can be used by financial
intelligence units to identify financial transactions likely to be linked to the online streaming of
CSAE.
A public version was released last September, sharing the report's overarching conclusions and
key findings.
Second. Despite the pandemic, the AMLC continues to strengthen its ties with other government
agencies to further effective and efficient coordination.
In fact, the AMLC enhanced its partnership with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
(PDEA), reinforcing the ability of each agency to forfeit assets related to drug trafficking through
criminal forfeiture by the PDEA and through civil forfeiture by the AMLC.
The AMLC and the Department of Finance (DOF) also stepped up their firm commitment against
money laundering and terrorism financing.
Information exchange has become more strategic as the AMLC now works directly with the
Revenue Integrity Protection Service, which is the anti-corruption arm of the DOF.
Apart from the inclusion of terrorism financing, the scope of cooperation between the agencies
now specifies unlawful activities under the AMLA, as amended.
In addition, the AMLC signed MOAs on information exchange and capacity building with Philippine
Amusement and Gaming Corporation, which regulates casinos; and with the Philippine National
Police (PNP) - Directorate for Intelligence, which manages all intelligence and
counterintelligence of the PNP and serves as the link of the PNP to all foreigners with official
transactions with the chief of the PNP.
Further collaboration is attained through the implementation of the National Anti-Money
Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Strategy for 2018 to 2022 (NACS), which
adopts a whole-of-government and a high-level approach against money laundering and
terrorism financing.