Financial Crime World

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Financial Crime Trends 2023: Jamaican Regulators on High Alert

KINGSTON, JAMAICA - As the global financial landscape continues to evolve, Jamaican regulators are gearing up to tackle emerging threats and vulnerabilities in the fight against fraud and financial crime.

Regulatory Focus

According to a recent report by KPMG, the regulatory focus will shift towards combating sophisticated financial crimes, including:

  • Terrorist financing
  • Beneficial ownership
  • Sanctions/tax evasion
  • Consumer scams
  • Potential compliance violations

The report highlights 10 key challenges that regulators will face in 2023.

New Frontiers

The rapid growth of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and DeFi (decentralized finance) platforms has led to an elevated risk of money laundering and terror financing. Jamaican regulators will expand AML regulations to include:

  • Assessing Customer Due Diligence (CDD)
  • Suspicious activity reporting related to these platforms
  • Sanctions and price cap compliance, including virtual currency mining, dark net markets, and bans on services to sanctioned entities/countries

Consumer Protection

Regulators will continue to monitor companies’ compliance with consumer protection regulations, ensuring:

  • Fair processing and treatment of consumer complaints, claims, and disputes
  • Implementation of risk programs to identify and mitigate fraud/scams directed at vulnerable populations such as the elderly and low-income individuals

Evolving Risks

Jamaican regulators will also face challenges in mitigating complex and evolving risks, including:

  • Domestic and international terrorist financing
  • Transnational criminal organizations
  • Drug trafficking
  • Human smuggling
  • Proliferation financing

The report emphasizes the importance of robust risk management frameworks for effective oversight and governance.

Industry Insights

In an exclusive interview with KPMG’s Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Fiachre O’Neill, PayPal’s representative emphasized the need for fintech and payments companies to prioritize fraud prevention, leveraging technology and data to monitor activity while maintaining a strong culture of doing the right thing.

The report provides actionable steps for companies to mitigate risk, including:

  • Adding analytics and automation to client onboarding
  • Eliminating antiquated technology
  • Establishing a mature conduct risk program
  • Strengthening controls in regulatory focal areas

Conclusion

As Jamaican regulators navigate the complex landscape of financial crime trends 2023, it is clear that collaboration between industry stakeholders, regulators, and law enforcement agencies will be crucial in preventing and detecting fraud and financial crimes. The KPMG report provides valuable insights for companies to stay ahead of emerging threats and maintain a strong risk management framework.

Read the full report: [link]