This is consistent with the Terrorism Financing Regional Risk Assessment findings at the 2nd CTF Summit in 2016 in Bali, where one of the priority actions identified was for FIUs to improve the visibility and insights into the nature of terrorism financing in the region. The idea is intended to help FIUs gain better insights into the role of financial and transit hubs in regional and international terrorism financing networks. Closer international cooperation Another area to ensure an effective mitigating strategy requires closer regional and global cooperation, particularly in the sharing of intelligence and technical know-how. Terrorism and terrorism financing are global issues that demand global solutions. Sharing of intelligence and expertise across borders will go a long way towards enhancing the effectiveness of our risk management framework. In this regard, the various working groups under the CTF Summits, the Financial Intelligence Consultative Group and International Community of Experts have done commendable efforts and initiatives in building capacity and sharing operational experiences in the region. This must continue to be strengthened given the challenges that we will face. Conclusion The fight against terrorism financing is an on-going battle that will continue to evolve in line with the ever-changing landscape of the financial industry. In the era of rapid technological advancements, it is essential that the financial sector’s risk management strategy remains agile in order to mitigate emerging risks.

We should envisage that terrorist financiers will attempt to benefit from anonymous transactions made possible by innovations of new payment products and services such as internet-based payment systems, prepaid cards and virtual currencies. Likewise, fundraising through social media and other online platforms such as “crowdfunding” have increased in prominence, in addition to other more traditional sources of funds such as proceeds of criminal activities, conventional donations, and funding from legitimate purposes. As change is a constant, collation of data points that this environment will continue to persist. Global internet users have increased from 397 million in the year 2000 to nearly 3.9 billion as of June 2017, an impressive growth of almost 1000%. Similarly, global investment activities in the FinTech industry have increased from USD9 billion in 2010 to USD25 billion in 2016. If this trend is anything to go by, the financial industry will be hard pressed to mitigate, identify and prevent cases of abuse in the system. There is no doubt that rapid technological developments have offered immense potential for economic growth. Unfortunately, they have also spawned new ways for terrorist organisations to acquire, move and manage their funds. There are other risks not anticipated before, such as remote radicalisation via the internet that has resulted in an increase in the number of small terrorist cells and “lone wolf actors” that makes detecting and halting terrorism financing even more challenging. In light of this development, the role of financial sector as a bulwark against terrorists financing becomes even more critical.