FERG partners with EastNets for powerful anti-money laundering conference

FERG Chairman: Diligence, compliance and awareness need to be part of organizational culture

Dubai – April 13th, 2016:  The Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG), comprising of businesses engaged in money exchange and remittances, has organized a high-powered conference to investigate a changing regulatory landscape for combatting money laundering in association with global compliance and payment solution provider EastNets.

The one-day event, held at Dubai’s Shangri La Hotel, brought together experts and heads of anti-money laundering (AML) departments to discuss the most important issues facing financial Institutions and Exchange houses in the UAE today.

The conference combined a formal programme with networking and breakout sessions to assist exchange houses in sharing anti money laundering best practices and everyday compliance procedures.

“Combatting grey transactions and ensuring a very high level of transparency for consumers, regulators and other stakeholders is not a one-off exercise. Rather, it requires diligence and oversight to be built into daily procedures. That’s why events like this FERG and EastNets conference are so important. They help exchange and remittance businesses understand the current threat climate and also hear from their colleagues and contemporaries on daily practices and case studies,” said FERG’s Chairman Osama Al Rahma.

Precautionary measures and prevention methods were a highlight of the event, which also enabled forums for professionals in the industry to recount success stories in combatting fraud. The role of technology in creating new threats but also offering solutions through automated monitoring and flagging was also discussed. Technological solutions play a powerful role in enabling exchange houses to meet compliance standards. 

“Our environment keeps evolving as new challenges and regulatory requirements come into play. That’s why FERG is keen on supporting and organizing anti-money laundering events every year. This enables our members to continually benefit from global ideas and best practices that they otherwise might not have access to. Transparency, compliance and vigilance need to become part of organizational culture, and reflected in all daily procedures. The “Regulatory Compliance for Exchange Houses Changes, Challenges, and Technology” event brought new ideas to the table and also reinforced the need for constant awareness,” concluded Al Rahma.