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| Feb 3, 2023

UK financial crime advisers praise Jamaica’s efforts

Shemar-Leslie Louisy

Shemar-Leslie Louisy / Our Today

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

…Emphasise collaboration and technology adoption

Photo from the FID conference at The Jamaica Pegasus (Photo: Candice Stewart/Our Today)

Echoing the sentiments made by the FID on day two of the FID’s conference on ‘Widening the Use of the Crime Act (POCA) Through Collaboration’, financial advisors from the UK and EU said that Jamaica is in line with the rest of the world with combatting financial crime.

Speaking on day two at the conference yesterday (February 2), Risk and Financial Crime Adviser Andy McDonald said, “Jamaica’s response to financial crimes are remarkably similar, to my UK and EU experiences.”

McDonald, a former senior detective at New Scotland Yard with 26 years of experience in fraud and financial crime investigation, spoke on the importance of updating legislation, utilising new technology and partnerships when combating financial crime during his presentation at The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.

Andy McDonald Risk and Financial Crime Adviser (Photo: LinkedIn @ Andy McDonald)

McDonald explained that in addition to financial institutions taking more steps to knowing their employees and working more with each other, he added that there should be a collaborative effort between the ‘right people’ in the public and private sectors to share data as widely as possible among each other and to use appropriate technology to assist in identifying, understanding, and mitigating financial crime threats.

He pointed out the following lessons from the UK and Europe that Jamaica can take steps to adopt.

Legislation

  • Jamaica needs more individual and corporate liability;
  • needs stronger prosecutorial powers in anti-money laundering (AML) cases.
  • better data protection in law

Technology

  • Criminals are adopting new technology faster than regulators and firms
  • Cost/Benefit of new systems

Public-Private Sector partnerships

  • Less Silo working and move to more quantitative outcomes
  • Decisions on De-Risking / De-Banking / Exiting

He stressed the ‘right people’ factor, pointing out that no new technology will replace the need for good people, machines cannot think cognitively, cannot be suspicious nor understand intent which are all invaluable for detecting financial crime.

READ: FID detective outlines ways to mitigate insider threats

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