Here is the rewritten article in Markdown format:

Money Laundering in Belgium: What You Need to Know

Belgium, a wealthy and influential European power, has been facing an increasing number of financial crime threats, including international money laundering and terrorism financing activities. To combat this threat, Belgium has built a robust regulatory framework for financial institutions and established a financial regulator to oversee compliance.

Understanding AML Regulations in Belgium

If you’re setting up or doing business in Belgium, it’s essential to understand how Belgium’s anti-money laundering (AML) regulations will affect your organization and what steps you need to take to protect yourself from risk.

Financial Regulator: FSMA

Belgium’s primary financial regulator is the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA). The FSMA works primarily in the domains of:

Supervision of financial products and services
Compliance with financial conduct rules and AML/CFT regulations
Surveillance of markets and distributed financial information
Financial education

The FSMA has the authority to conduct onsite inspections or request documentation to verify AML/CFT compliance, and may impose sanctions including significant financial penalties against non-compliant firms.

Financial Intelligence Unit: CTIF

Belgium’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), known as the CTIF, is responsible for:

Collecting and processing data on suspicious transactions
Analyzing suspicious transactions with law enforcement agencies
Providing training and guidance to financial institutions on AML/CFT compliance

Crypto Regulation in Belgium

In addition to traditional AML/CFT measures, Belgium has focused heavily on crypto regulation recently. An amendment to the AML Law in 2022 brought crypto service providers under the scope of the legislation, introducing new criminal offences and sanctions that pertain to crypto asset activities.

Achieving Effective AML Compliance

To achieve effective AML compliance in Belgium, firms must be prepared to:

Search international data sources for customer involvement in risk factors set out in domestic legislation
Use cutting-edge machine learning technology and informed by thousands of global data sources in real-time

Ripjar’s Labyrinth Screening platform is built to achieve screening compliance in Belgium, the EU, and jurisdictions around the world.