With each news about a scam involving cryptocurrencies or a new scandal of celebrities associated with sports betting companies, the popular Bets, the feeling is that the criminal underworld is many steps ahead of the civilized world in its strategies to transform illegally obtained resources into assets that appear to be legitimate, the so-called money laundering
After all, in light of the clamor from the business world for innovations that lead to the emergence and dissemination of mechanisms such as cryptocurrencies and the popular demand for the possibility of combining the useful (making money) with the pleasant (trusting your favorite team) in betting, how to monitor the occurrence of thousands of transactions every minute to prevent all this goodwill from being used to finance criminal activities and terrorism, for example
In Brazil, Law No. 9.613, from 1998, known as the Money Laundering Law, it is the legal basis that defines the crime and establishes severe penalties for those involved. Furthermore, she created the Financial Activities Control Council (COAF), responsible for receiving communications of suspicious operations and producing financial intelligence to combat this type of crime
In turn, o Banco Central atua diretamente junto ao Sistema Brasileiro de Prevenção e Combate à Lavagem de Dinheiro e ao Financiamento do Terrorismo (PLD/FT). Ele regulamenta as normas para que as instituições financeiras implementem políticas de PLD/FT, monitoring and overseeing your compliance and applying administrative sanctions when necessary. Furthermore, the BC maintains the National Financial System Client Registry (CCS) and reports suspicious activities to COAF and the Public Prosecutor's Office
But in practice, technology is the key in preventing money laundering. Advanced data analysis tools allow financial institutions to detect patterns of suspicious activities and identify potential cases. The implementation and integration of specialized software is recommended to improve efficiency in detection and strengthen compliance and internal audit processes
One of the fundamental requirements in this regard is that financial institutions deeply know their clients. This involves conducting a complete identification of all parties involved in financial transactions, both Individuals and Legal Entities. The KYC process is not limited to just the collection of documents, however, it also includes the verification of the source of funds and the continuous analysis of transactions to identify suspicious behaviors
Worried about the subject, Febraban will hold an event between October 15 and 16, in São Paulo the 14th edition ofMoney Laundering Prevention Congressand to the Financing of Terrorism (PLDFT), considered the largest event on the subject in Brazil. Not by chance, the central theme this year will be "Integrated approach between the areas of controls"
The programming will allow for reflection on sensitive and strategic topics not only for banks, but for the whole of society that ends up, one way or another, being threatened by this practice
Some defined themes are, for example: "Challenges in the interaction of Financial Intelligence Units", "Strategic actions for combating and preventing illicit activities", "Use of artificial intelligence in AML/CFT", "Sports betting and its impacts" and "Socio-environmental crimes" – slave labor, money laundering and corruption crimes.
As we can see from the breadth of the discussions, it becomes completely utopian to imagine that a new law or a new technological solution alone will be able to meet the challenge
In this scenario, the sharing of information and integrated technologies is the only way to strengthen the fight against financial crime. and mitigate the risks associated with money laundering by ensuring compliance with current regulations
