FINTRAC Publishes its First Assessment on Terrorist Activity Financing
FINTRAC today published its Terrorist Financing Assessment: 2018
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The assessment is the first of its kind in Canada and part of FINTRAC’s broader commitment to helping businesses comply with their obligations under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. The assessment’s financial and geographic indicators, in particular, will assist businesses in better identifying and reporting suspected terrorist activity financing. With enhanced suspicious transaction reporting from businesses, FINTRAC will be even better able to provide actionable financial intelligence to Canada’s police and national security agencies and financial intelligence units around the world.
The report does not evaluate the presence or effectiveness of the tools or measures the countries may have in place to counter the financing of terrorism.
The Terrorist Financing Assessment: 2018 was developed in close collaboration with FINTRAC’s national security partners as a part of the Government of Canada’s efforts to combat violent extremism and terrorism.
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“As events of the past several years have shown, individual terrorists and terrorist groups pose a risk to countries around the world, including Canada. Our Terrorist Financing Assessment: 2018 will help businesses improve the quality of their reporting of suspected terrorist activity financing so that FINTRAC can provide actionable financial intelligence to Canada’s police and national security agencies and financial intelligence units around the world. Together, we all have a critical role to play in protecting Canadians and Canada’s financial system.”
Nada Semaan, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada
Quick Facts
- Countries determined to be at a higher risk of terrorist financing were selected based on their exposure to terrorists and/or terrorist activities, their role in the global financial system, and their counter-terrorist financing regulatory and enforcement regime, as well as Canada’s financial exposure to them, as determined by FINTRAC reporting; remittance flows, as reported by the World Bank; and data on trade volumes, as reported by Statistics Canada.
- The Middle East, centred on Syria and Iraq, presents the greatest terrorist activity financing risk to Canada.
- The South Asia region, centred on Afghanistan and Pakistan, is of high importance in the risk of terrorist activity financing to Canada.
- The assessment includes Indicators of Financial Activities of Extremist Travellers given the risk to Canada posed by the extremist traveller phenomenon over the past several years.
- Prepaid cards, mobile payments and other alternative payment methods are an emerging area of terrorist activity financing risk.
- FINTRAC provided 645 disclosures of actionable financial intelligence in 2017–18 relevant to terrorism financing and threats to the security of Canada.