Anguilla’s Financial Intelligence Unit Evolves: A Hybrid Model for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Anguilla’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has seen significant transformation since its establishment in 2000. Following the passing of the Financial Intelligence Unit Act, 2020, the FIU is now an official government department with an expanded mandate. The new structure enables the FIU to spearhead the investigation, detection, prevention, and control of financial crimes, including money laundering, terrorist financing, and related matters.

Anguilla’s Hybrid Model: Blending Law Enforcement and Administrative Models

Anguilla’s FIU employs a unique hybrid model, a fusion of law enforcement and administrative models, which has proven essential in Anguilla’s endeavor to prevent financial crimes.

• Law Enforcement Model: This component complements existing law enforcement structures by facilitating anti-money laundering measures. It offers support to various law enforcement and judicial entities, each with overlapping or conflicting jurisdictional control over investigations.
• Administrative Model: This model serves as a centralized, independent administrative body. It functions as a buffer between the financial sector and the law enforcement community, gathering financial intelligence from financial institutions and forwarding it to pertinent authorities for prosecution.

The New Setup: A Single Hybrid Unit

In this updated configuration, the Anguilla FIU operates as a fully integrated, single hybrid unit, consisting of two distinct divisions:

1. Financial Intelligence Unit– Intelligence Division
2. Financial Intelligence Unit– Investigations Division

Both divisions are overseen by the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, Anguilla.

Financial Intelligence Unit– Intelligence Division

This division lies at the heart of the FIU, handling all stages of information gathering, analysis, and dissemination. Intelligence analysts scrutinize vast amounts of data to identify suspicious financial activity, uncover trends, and produce actionable intelligence reports for relevant agencies. By providing these insights, they empower law enforcement and judicial bodies to make informed decisions to dismantle illicit financial networks.

Financial Intelligence Unit– Investigations Division

The Investigations Division takes the intelligence generated by the Intelligence Division and conducts in-depth probes into serious financial crimes, primarily focusing on money laundering, terrorist financing, asset recovery, cash seizures, forfeitures, and mutual legal requests related to money laundering and terrorist financing. Through rigorous investigative work, the division sheds light on the intricate networks behind criminal activities, supplying essential evidence for prosecutions and strengthening Anguilla’s financial crime prevention measures.