Lebanon: Arab Conference Calls for Building a Unified Arab Culture to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Beirut, August 12 (KUNA) -- Participants in the Arab Regional Conference on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing stressed today, Wednesday, the importance of raising awareness about the dangers of money laundering and terrorist financing to build a comprehensive Arab culture that contributes to effectively combating these crimes.

Dr. Waseem Fattouh, Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Banks, told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) at the conclusion of the conference, organized by the Union in Beirut, that the event addressed several important technical issues, the foremost being the reforms required to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, which serves as a warning stage for a country to prompt it to take necessary measures.

Fattouh pointed to Lebanon, which has several outstanding requirements that led to its placement on the list, including a cash-based economy and financial reforms to exit the financial crisis, as well as political matters. He affirmed, however, the existence of political will to implement the required reform measures.

He added that "every country in the region is making efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and some countries face challenges in this regard, such as Iraq and Syria, and are striving to address them."

For his part, Dr. Basil Al-Hajar, an expert in security and geopolitical studies, told KUNA in a similar statement that money laundering and terrorist financing are crimes linked to areas where wars and internal crises are prevalent. He noted that certain entities resort to these activities to secure the funding they need, especially following the increase in international measures and restrictions on the movement of funds.

He considered that terrorist financing has today become closely linked to money laundering, which provides terrorist groups with a source of funding. He explained that terrorist operations are linked to four stages: recruitment, training, preparation, and execution, and that the common factor between them is financing, without which the aforementioned stages cannot be carried out.

He stressed that "by eliminating terrorist financing, terrorism itself is eliminated," highlighting the role of the Union of Arab Banks through this conference in creating awareness about the dangers of terrorist financing and transforming it into a comprehensive Arab culture that confronts and prevents money laundering.

Al-Hajar emphasized the importance of defining criminal liability for the misuse of artificial intelligence to combat its abuse in money laundering and terrorist financing.

The second day of the conference discussed "Required Economic and Banking Reforms to Enhance Banking Integrity," and also covered "International Sanctions and Relations with Correspondent Banks." Additionally, participants discussed compliance requirements under international sanctions, due diligence procedures to verify the beneficial owner, and the topic of managing international sanctions risks.

A panel discussion titled "Lessons Learned in Combating Financial Crimes" was held during the conference, during which participants stressed the importance of the accuracy of customer information and data and their role in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. They pointed out that one of the lessons learned in recent periods is how to establish customer data management governance, and that one of the best improvements currently being implemented is the use of artificial intelligence to enhance the quality of customer data.

The conference, which began yesterday, aimed to examine legislative and institutional reforms and enhance cooperation among regulatory, security, and judicial authorities and the banking sector. (End) A.Y.B./Sh.M.A.