FERG brings anti money laundering message to ACAMS Conference as Supporting Sponsor

Supports students from AUS in attending conference to groom new generation of financial leaders

Dubai – November 8, 2015: The Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG), comprising of businesses engaged in money exchange and remittances took its message of vigilance against money laundering to the 6th Annual MENA AML and Financial Crime Conference (ACAMS) as a supporting sponsor. FERG Chairman MR. Osama Al Rahma and FERG Secretary Mr.Rajiv Raipancholia attended the conference on behalf of FERG. 

In his presentation, FERG’s Chairman, Osama Al Rahma spoke about the need for training and constant monitoring to combat money laundering. He highlighted processes and precautions required to establish a system of transparent transactions. 

“We are advocating a number of initiatives to track and avoid grey transactions. There is need to conduct effective due diligence on transactions, particularly those originating from unstable areas. Similarly, trade based transactions should also be scrutinised for possible links to criminal or terrorist activity. At FERG, we are calling for strengthening the monitoring process through enhanced analytics and financial intelligence data,” said Al Rahma. 

Al Rahma suggested the introduction of an annual AML and compliance training programme for employees. He also suggested that exchange and remittance houses hold transaction records for a minimum of 5 years in case they are needed for investigations.  Further, he noted how important it was for businesses to have their AML and compliance programmes tested by third party auditors. 

As part of its support for ACAMS, FERG encouraged all its member remittance businesses to attend the conference. Conference details were circulated to members, and the event was publicised on the FERG website. 

“An advantage of being an FERG member is the opportunity to access world class sources of knowledge and expert speakers at powerful platforms such as ACAMS. We encourage knowledge transfer opportunities for our members,” Al Rahma added. 

FERG also sponsored 20 student attendees from the American University of Sharjah to attend the ACAMS seminar. The students were part of the University’s newly launched “Financial Crime” course.  The syllabus covers a wide range of financial crime typologies, international and regional legislative and regulatory framework, risk assessment and risk management. It trains students to detect, analyse, investigate and address instances of money laundering at an organisational level. 

“We were delighted to be able to bring a new generation of financial experts to the ACAMS conference. FERG is committed to ensuring a robust, transparent and vibrant remittance and exchange industry in the UAE. We recognise that this entails reaching out to young people who are studying compliance and financial management to ensure that tomorrow’s leaders have an excellent grounding in stomping out grey transactions. Only then we make sure of sustainable transparency that increases business and consumer confidence,” said Al Rahma. 

Created in collaboration with the UAE Central Bank, FERG works towards representing the concerns of its members while advocating the transfer remittances through official, legal channels. Most of the country’s notable exchange houses are FERG members.