THE Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has launched an on-line portal to facilitate timely submission of reports by reporting entities as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is according to Director of the FIU, Matthew Langevine, who during a recent interview with a section of the media outlined some of the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the unit’s response. Langevine explained that the initiation of the on-line reporting platform came after the FIU was unable to receive reports over the counter for several months due to the pandemic.

“One of the biggest positives coming out of the whole issue with the pandemic is that we were able to put more emphasis on our on-line reporting forum. During 2020, the FIU through our partners in the United States, they funded an on-line reporting platform where reporting entities can now submit their obligatory reports through a safe and secure online portal,” Langevine said. He noted that during the pandemic, the FIU conducted and completed all testing in relation to the platform and it was able to become fully operational.

Since the launch of the on-line platform, the FIU received positive feedback with a number of reporting entities utilising the forum, which demonstrated the efficiency of the platform and an indication that it has been working well. “We hope that in 2021 a lot more of the entities will be reporting through that forum and will be avoiding the need to come and visit the FIU to drop off their reports,” Langevine stressed. Besides the launching of the on-line reporting platform, the FIU was able to develop itself and strengthen its human personnel.

“During the period of the pandemic also, we used a lot of the time to ensure that the staff within the FIU completed a lot of on-line training programmes that were available through the United Nations Organization for Drug Control (UNODC) and a lot of other on-line training that became available because of the pandemic,” Langevine explained. He added: “2020 provided an opportunity because of the pandemic for us to do a lot of on-line training and so we believe our staff are becoming increasingly more prepared and competent in terms of completing the work of the FIU and making our job a lot more effective.”

The FIU was established under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009 and is responsible for requesting, receiving, analyzing and dissemination of suspicious transaction reports and other information relating to money laundering, terrorist financing or the proceeds of crime. A reporting entity is any person or entity that is involved in any of the businesses, professions or activities listed in the First Schedule of the AML/CFT Act of 2009, inclusive of, but not limited to licensed financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses or professions.