SANTO DOMINGO.- Melitón Cordero, supervisor of the Santo Domingo office of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), highlighted the role of the banking sector, especially compliance officers, in detecting suspected cases of money laundering, which, he said, have prompted investigations or constituted essential evidence for the prosecution of these cases.
Cordero was a speaker during the Latin American Congress on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (COPLAFT), which was organized by the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA) and the Latin American Federation of Banks (FELABAN).
"Law enforcement officers are always featured in the news, but they don't talk about you (compliance officers), who often initiate investigations for us," Cordero exclaimed during his presentation, highlighting the importance of these roles in the fight against organized crime.
Melitón Cordero, during his presentation. (External source).
He added that "in banks and in the private sector they do their job faithfully, on a daily basis," which makes it easier for national and local authorities to detect irregularities.
To illustrate to the attendees of COPLAFT, he presented several real cases of investigations by the DEA in coordination with the Dominican authorities, through which complex money laundering networks operating between the United States and the Dominican Republic have been discovered.
In another conference, Carlos Aldana, Vice President of Compliance at Bancolombia, stated that new professions and ventures linked to technologies, such as influencers, YouTubers, webcam performers (adult content creators) and fintechs, constitute an operational and regulatory challenge for the banking sector and for the authorities working on the prevention of money laundering in Latin American countries.
Aldana indicated that after the pandemic there was an exponential growth in the number of people dedicated to these occupations and cited, as an example, the case of Colombia and Brazil, countries in which it is estimated there are 650,000 and 2 million influencers, respectively, who move substantial resources and are followed by millions of people.
He argued that, due to these characteristics and a regulatory framework that is not adapted to this reality, these professions are vulnerable to being used for fronting, money laundering, and other activities of organized crime. Therefore, he proposed that, in addition to regulatory measures, financial education and the formalization of these businesses be promoted as ways to prevent this scourge.
Other experts, such as Ramón Guzmán, president of the ABA's Anti-Money Laundering Committee, spoke about the use and potential of new technologies, including Machine Learning and Blockchain, to make risk mitigation more efficient in the banking sector.
Meanwhile, the role and contribution of the media, in its investigative and denunciatory work against organized crime for money laundering and other crimes, was addressed by Gerardo Reyes, winner of a Pulitzer Prize and current head of the investigative unit of the Univision network.
COPLAFT concludes successfully with over 200 attendees
On behalf of ABA and FELABAN, Rosanna Ruiz thanked the more than 200 participants who gathered for two days at the Marriott Piantini Hotel for this third edition of COPLAFT, the first one held entirely in person.
Ruiz, president of the Multiple Banks Association, stated that the event concluded with the satisfaction of having shared a transcendent, timely and high-impact agenda with international and local speakers who offered a holistic vision of the prevention of money laundering.
For her part, Lidia Ureña, senior manager of Regulation at the ABA and president of the FELABAN Money Laundering Committee, stated that the experience was highly satisfactory due to the interest shown by the different sectors that must intervene in the work of due diligence, prevention and regulatory compliance in matters of money laundering.
He added that the agenda was designed to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the challenges facing the sector and how to successfully address them. Therefore, he was pleased to see representatives from financial institutions, the stock market, trust companies, cooperatives, currency exchange agents, vehicle dealerships, betting shops, and gambling establishments in the audience, as well as the relevant authorities in these sectors.
Cover photo: Giorgio Trettenero, Lidia Ureña, Rosanna Ruiz and Vice Admiral Ramón Gustavo Betances. (External source).
