muhammad al - jasser : compliance and combating money laundering speech by his excellency dr muhammad al - jasser, governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency ( sama ), at the symposium on compliance and anti - money laundering, institute of banking, riyadh, 23 – 24 march 2010. * * * in the name of allah the merciful, and blessings and peace be upon his prophet and messenger, dear audience, i am pleased to welcome you to this symposium, which is organized by the institute of banking ( iob ) and deals with two important and interrelated issues : compliance and combating money laundering. decision - makers and legislators have paid increasing attention to the issue of compliance with regulations, criteria and guidelines because of its importance to financial institutions in achieving better performance, avoiding risks and enhancing their success. at the same time, compliance maintains the reputation and credibility of financial institutions and protects them against regulatory sanctions. it also protects the interests of shareholders and depositors. compliance is a comprehensive and multifaceted responsibility, and achieving compliance is a duty that all employees in any financial institution have to undertake, each according to entrusted powers and tasks. recognizing the importance of compliance, the basel committee on banking supervision, with the participation of the saudi arabian monetary agency ( sama ), approved and issued the paper pertaining to principles of compliance and its function at banks, in april 2005. the paper was designed in the form of fundamental principles of compliance with the regulations, covering a number of areas, the most important of which are the responsibilities of the board of directors and senior management, controls on the independence of compliance function at banks, support of compliance department and its work program, and the relationship of compliance department with internal audit department. in may 2005, sama directed banks operating in the kingdom to adopt the principles stated in this paper and incorporate them with the procedures and programs regarding risks of noncompliance that have already been applied and developed by banks under the instructions of sama. dear audience, you are also dealing in this symposium with an important topic, which is combating money laundering. as you know, money laundering is one of the most serious crimes at the security, economic and moral levels. this heinous crime is carried out by organized networks practicing crime as a profession and having a high potential for coordination, planning and deployment throughout the world. these networks take advantage of the globalization of capital markets and technological developments in the banking industry. because of the negative impacts of

##wart any attempts aimed at abusing banks and money - changers operating in the kingdom as channels to pass illegal transactions. dear audience, the positive results achieved by the kingdom are an incentive and impetus to all of us to keep on executing development plans and work continuously to combat money laundering crimes, safeguarding the soundness of our national economy with all its financial and non - financial sectors against adverse impacts. the kingdom will not hesitate to undertake all measures and means to attain the highest levels of quality and to meet international anti - money laundering standards. i would like reiterate the importance of cooperation among relevant domestic, regional and international entities, intensifying efforts and exchanging technical information and expertise to detect, monitor and pinpoint money laundering operations. in conclusion, i would like to reaffirm the importance of continued training and development of human resources working in this field to insure that they have necessary skills and to keep them acquainted with developments. thank you for your attention and i welcome you all once again, wishing you a successful gathering. bis central bankers ’ speeches