Kamil Daniel Akdag

New whitepaper alert! 📢 Download your free copy of Unlocking Efficiency: The case for automated verification in AML compliance to discover 🔎: - An overview into money laundering, anti-money laundering regulations and AML processes - What are traditional AML processes? - What are the risks of relying on manual procedures? - What is the case for automated verification? - Myth busting – why do some regulated firms not trust electronic verification? - Why spotting red flags is easier with automated AML solutions Take a look here 👉https://hubs.ly/Q02LSg870

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The Luxembourg financial services regulator (CSSF) has fined Fuchs & Associés Finance SA, a Luxembourg-based investment firm currently in liquidation, €785,000 for AML and sanctions compliance failings. Amongst other things, the firm is alleged to have “failed to undertake screening controls to detect [designated individuals and entities] for all clients of the trading desk” and the “screening tools were updated only once a week”. The CSSF said that these deficiencies constitute a “failure to comply with the obligation to detect these persons, entities and groups without delay”. #EUSanctions #Russia #EUCommission #ExportControl  #TradeWar #TSECS #SanctionsUpdate #TurkishSociety #Sanctions #USA #OFAC #BIS #TradeUpdates #GlobalTrade #TradeCompliance #InternationalRelations #EconomicSanctions #TradeRegulations #TurkishExports #TradePolicy #SecurityMatters #ForeignPolicy #ComplianceNews #EconomicSecurity #CrossBorderBusiness

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[ONLINE] The Regulatory Obligations of CSPs & the Role of the Compliance Office and the MLRO 27 June The session will focus on the regulatory obligations of Company Service Providers (CSPs) that are licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in Malta. The obligations shall be split into two, namely, regulatory obligations related to the recently updated rulebook, and sector specific AML obligations as described in the Implementing Procedures Part 2 for CSPs. The role of the Compliance Officer and the MLRO shall be discussed in such a regulatory context. Instructed by: John Caruana. 

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[ONLINE] The Regulatory Obligations of CSPs & the Role of the Compliance Office and the MLRO 27 June The session will focus on the regulatory obligations of Company Service Providers (CSPs) that are licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in Malta. The obligations shall be split into two, namely, regulatory obligations related to the recently updated rulebook, and sector specific AML obligations as described in the Implementing Procedures Part 2 for CSPs. The role of the Compliance Officer and the MLRO shall be discussed in such a regulatory context. Instructed by: John Caruana.

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📅Our next session about the Luxembourg regulatory framework will deal with understanding the characteristics of support and specialised #PFS, #CSSF's supervision methods, relevant #regulations and their impacts, internal governance mechanisms, and Luxembourg standards and practices. 📒If you want to learn more, click on the link below to register: ➡https://lnkd.in/eEw6zkUv Cécile Liégeois | Isabelle Melcion-Richard #pfs #regulatoryframework #internalgovernance #luxembourg #training

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📢 ESMA Publishes Compendium of Enforcement Decisions by EU Accounting Enforcers European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released the 29th Extract from its database of enforcement decisions taken by EU accounting enforcers. 🔍This resource aims to provide issuers and users of financial statements with relevant information on the appropriate application of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). 🔍 The decisions cover IFRSs as well as the ESMA Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures: https://lnkd.in/geEvQp5u 🌐 Access the Full Extract: The 29th Extract, comprising eight decisions made by European enforcers between December 2021 and December 2023, can be accessed on ESMA's website at the following link: https://lnkd.in/g7EUYFvt 📅 Stay Informed: ESMA will continue to publish extracts from the FRWG decisions database regularly. https://lnkd.in/eKuGSBU7 #IAASA #ESMA #IFRS #AccountingEnforcement #FinancialReporting

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In a recent Luxembourg for Finance webinar, Stanislaw Tosza detailed upcoming key changes in the EU’s AML framework. These amendments include the creation of a new anti-money-laundering authority (Amla), consistent EU-wide #regulations, and intensified powers for financial intelligence units. These actions aim to reinforce the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing across the #EU. 🔗 Read the full article by following this link: https://lnkd.in/e5JwZCA2 #AML #Compliance

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#Switzerland - FINMA opened bankruptcy proceedings against FlowBank SA - What were the Reasons? (part 1 of case study) The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority #FINMA opened #bankruptcy proceedings against #FlowBank SA on 13 June 2024 as (i) the #bank no longer has the minimum capital required for its business operations and (ii) over-indebtedness is feared. The aim of the bankruptcy proceedings is to protect depositors. According to current calculations, the privileged deposits can be repaid in full out of the bank’s available funds. Reasons for Bankruptcy Proceedings: 1. Capital Requirement Breaches ❌ Insufficient Capital: FlowBank no longer met the minimum capital requirements necessary for operating the bank (significant and persistent breach). ❌ Over-Indebtedness Concerns: Substantial concerns that the bank was over-indebted, i.e. liabilities exceeded assets. 2. Failure to Restore Compliance ❌ Inaction by Management: The bank and its management were unable totimely take sustainable steps to restore compliance with capital requirements. ❌ No Prospect of Restructuring: Given the bank's inability to comply with capital requirements and rectify its financial situation, restructuring was deemed unfeasible. 3. Serious Breach of Supervisory Law ➡️ Initial Enforcement (Oct 2021): Identified breaches in capital requirements, organization, and risk management. ➡️ Follow-Up Measures (Oct 2022): FINMA ordered comprehensive measures to restore compliance and appointed an independent auditor to monitor the implementation. ➡️ Ongoing Compliance Deficiencies: ❌ Continued breaches of the capital ratio and organizational deficiencies. ❌ Inaccurate/incomplete bookkeeping and financial reporting. ❌ Failure to meet disclosure and reporting obligations to FINMA. 4. High-Risk Business Activities ❌ Entering High-Risk Relationships: The bank engaged in numerous high-risk business relationships and processed large transactions without adequate investigation. ❌ Money Laundering Concerns: Serious breach of due diligence obligations related to AML-regulations. ❌ Prohibition Breach: The bank ignored FINMA’s prohibition on engaging in additional high-risk business activities, increasing its risk profile significantly. 5. Regulatory Actions and Consequences ✅ Withdrawal of Bank’s Licence: Due to serious malpractice and prolonged non-compliance, FINMA ordered withdrawal of the bank's licence (8 Mar 2024). ✅ Precautionary Measures: During an appeal at the Federal Administrative Court, FINMA implemented measures to prevent asset withdrawal by the bank. ✅ Immediate Intervention: FINMA’s immediate intervention was necessary when it was confirmed that FlowBank’s financial situation was worse than reported, breaching minimum capital requirements and indicating over-indebtedness. Tomorrow: What are the Key Points of Bank Bankruptcy Proceedings? MLL Legal

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Presentation on key thematic issues, analyzing challenges and proposing actionable strategies for improvement on Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism AML/CFT) at the Strategic Review Workshop on the performance of GIABA Member States.

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The EU's AML/CFT Legislative Package introduces Regulations and Directives to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, harmonizing rules across Member States for improved transparency and coordination. Elaine Magri and Jonathan Camilleri explore the key elements of the legislative package in their news item below. #AML #CFT #FinancialCrime

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A couple of days ago the European Banking Authority (EBA) published regulatory and implementing technical standards concerning the authorization to issue Asset-Referenced Tokens (ART). To summarize: 🔸 The first document outlines the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) concerning how the whitepaper should be evaluated, and lists the ancillary documents to be attached, including a cost-benefit analysis of the token issuance and a legal opinion qualifying the token as an ART. Credit institutions access a preferential path for ART issuance, so they will not need to obtain approval for the issuance, but will need to (i) notify the relevant authorities of the issuance, (ii) get the whitepaper approved. 🔸 The second document outlines the RTS for the acquisition of major holdings in the legal entity of an ART issuer. The provisions are modeled after those for the financial sector, mirroring the requirements of EU Regulation 2017/1946, which identifies the documents to be produced when notifying the authority of the proposed acquisition of a qualifying holding in an investment firm, and Directive 2007/44/EC - currently no longer in force - which outlines the procedural rules and criteria for the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increase of holdings in the financial sector. 🔸 The third document outlines the requirements for the application to admit the ART to public offering and/or trading on a platform. The RTS specify the information to be included in the application, while the Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) include forms, templates, and procedures to be included in the application. Trading or public offering of ARTs is restricted to legal entities or credit institutions, except if subject to the conditions set out in Article 16(2) MiCAR (tokens purchasable only by qualified investors; not exceeding the threshold of €5 million in 12 months). The authorization process includes a first stage in which the competent authority evaluates the completeness of the application; a second stage in which the complete application is evaluated; a third stage in which the competent authority forwards its draft decision on granting authorization and the application file, including the white paper, to the ECB (and other central banks) for the adoption of an opinion on the interaction of the proposed ART with monetary policy, monetary sovereignty and financial stability. Following the adoption of the opinion of the ECB or other central banks, the competent authority adopts a decision on the granting or refusal of the authorization, it being understood that a negative opinion of the ECB or other central bank shall result in the refusal of the authorization.

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Luxembourg’s financial watchdogs are stepping up their scrutiny of #terroristfinancing amid concerns that the Grand Duchy’s status as an international financial hub makes it vulnerable to abuse by illicit actors, in particular from the Middle East and Africa. Financial supervisor Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) and Cellule de Renseignement Financier (CRF), Luxembourg’s financial intelligence unit, recently addressed the banking and asset management industry and outlined a sophisticated picture of the risks posed by terrorist financing in a jurisdiction famed for its global reach. Some firms here are more vulnerable than others. Payment institutions, e-money providers, and non-profit organisations face a relatively high risk, said Geoffroy Hermanns, a financial services attorney and partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Luxembourg. Management companies, or ManCos, supporting the thousands of investment funds domiciled in Luxembourg are “potentially less at risk”, he said, thanks to the Grand Duchy’s tightly regulated environment. Read the full story at https://lnkd.in/e488iVbH #LuxembourgFinance #AML #CFT #TerroristFinancing #FinancialCompliance #GlobalFinance #CSSF #CRF #RiskManagement #BankingRegulation #AssetManagement #MiddleEast #Africa #SanctionsCompliance #RealEstateRisks #DueDiligence #AICompliance #FinancialOversight #ManCos #Crowdfunding #NonProfits #FinancialVigilance #Luxembourg #LuxembourgBanking #InternationalFinance #MoneyLaundering #RiskBasedApproach #EURegulations #Ofac #FinancialSecurity #InvestmentOfficer #FinancialRegulators #FinancialInnovation

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'... a crypto wallet that was not associated to any entity sanctioned by OFAC ... '[Ransomware authorship] cannot establish a link that the author of the software had an interest [in the attack and thus benefitted from the ransom] ... '... OFAC had been informed of the Ransomware Attack and had not initiated any enforcement proceedings neither against the insured nor against the intermediary tasked with making the ransomware payment ... 'The cantonal court thus ruled that it was highly unlikely that the Insurance would be subject to [US sanctions] penalties ... [Insurer then appealed unsuccessfully.] '... failed to establish that an entity sanctioned under US sanctions regulations (Evil Corp) was involved in the Ransomware Attack and was the beneficiary of the ransom payment ... failed to demonstrate that it was exposed to the risk of being sanctioned under US sanctions regulations. As a result, the Insurance could not rely on the Sanctions Clause ... '... difficulties of attribution of cyberattacks which is a major policy challenge that goes way beyond contractual disputes ... 'The issue is whether it can consider that any cyberattack that would have been committed using said ransomware could solely be attributable to the author of the ransomware'. Wait, does this approach mean that ransomware sanctions may not actually be the ideal tool for stopping _victims_ from paying? They could still work to isolate crims within their ecosystems, of course. Maybe sanctions clauses should say 'if the ransomware code is sufficiently similar to the code dished out by a sanctioned person or group more generally at the time of the attack, we won't pay'? cc: Luke, Adam https://lnkd.in/guCvfN_f

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✏️ The Luxembourg Parliament recently enacted a law reforming the Trade and Companies Register (𝗥𝗖𝗦) and the Register of Beneficial Owners (𝗥𝗕𝗘) laws. This reform is a direct response to the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union which invalidated unrestricted public access to beneficial ownership information, on the grounds that such access violated privacy rights. Under the new framework, access to the RBE is now limited to national authorities, professionals subject to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (𝗔𝗠𝗟/𝗖𝗧𝗙) obligations, and those with a proven legitimate interest, such as journalists and non-profit organisations.   Additionally, the reform introduces administrative sanctions to ensure the reliability of the information registered in the RCS and RBE and streamlines declaration processes.   Read more about it 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNFGACex   Fabian Beullekens ∣ Peter Myners ∣ Jacques Graas ∣ Sylvain Cailleau ∣ Baptiste AUBRY ∣ Thomas Berger ∣ Helena Finn ∣ Matthieu De Donder ∣ Alann Le Guillou ∣ Victoria Woestmann ∣ Pol Theisen ∣ Andreea Antonescu ∣ Joachim Apra   #Corporate #RCS #RBE #Legislation #Luxembourg #AOShearman

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⚡️🇨🇭 Swiss Federal Council adopts dispatch on strengthening anti-money laundering framework in Switzerland Today, the Swiss Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the draft of the new Federal Act on Transparency of Legal Entities and the Identification of Beneficial Owners (the 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥) to be submitted to Parliament. It aims to strengthen the anti-money laundering (𝐀𝐌𝐋) framework in Switzerland by introducing, among others, a 𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 and 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 for particularly risky activities in legal professions. I co-authored a bulletin for Jacquemoud Stanislas (available here: https://lnkd.in/e5vTp-7J), which sets out the key elements of the Draft Bill. The Draft Bill, as clarified by the dispatch published today, may be summarized as follows: ▪️ A #federal #register (transparency register) will be introduced, in which companies and other legal entities in Switzerland will have to enter information on their #beneficial #owners. The Draft Bill provides for simplified registration for associations and foundations in particular, but also for other legal forms such as sole proprietorships and limited liability companies. In particular, the register should allow the law enforcement authorities to identify who is really behind a legal structure with greater speed and certainty. The aim is to prevent legal entities in Switzerland from being used to launder money or conceal assets. The register will not be publicly accessible. It will be managed by the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP). 🆕👉 Compared to the consultation draft, data collection has been further simplified, coordination with money laundering legislation improved, and data protection strengthened.
 ▪️ #AML #due #diligence rules should henceforth apply to certain advisory activities (especially legal advice) which carry a high risk of money laundering. The structuring of companies or transactions with real estate are considered to carry particular risks. Specific regulations take into consideration lawyers' and notaries' duty of professional secrecy. 🆕👉 Responsibility for supervising the exercise of due diligence obligations by the affected lawyers should not lie with the regional bar associations, but with the self-regulatory organisations (SROs) under AML legislation.
 ▪️ Additional measures include measures to prevent #sanctions under embargo legislation from being breached or circumvented. In addition, while it is still possible to make #cash #payments over CHF 15,000 in precious metals trading and for any amount in real estate business, these will be subject to due diligence obligations. 🆕👉 The reform of the system of sanctions for SROs will not be proposed. 🏛️ The Draft Bill will be presented to Parliament. It is not expected to come into force until early 2026. Draft Bill available here: https://lnkd.in/eC5-f7Yw Source: https://lnkd.in/eV7DpM-G

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