From May 18 to 20, one of the highlights of the Finance Track took place under the German G7 presidency: The meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors at the Petersberg in Bonn, Germany.
The participants agreed to deepen economic cooperation under the German G7 presidency at this third meeting.
On the subject of money laundering, too, they again agreed on concrete measures. The topic was discussed in connection with environmental crime, transparency, and cryptocurrencies.
New Measures On Money Laundering By The G7
The G7 joint communiqué agreed on the following measures.
- Support Financial Action Task Force (FATF) efforts to promote transparency on beneficial ownership and implement the relevant FATF standards.
- Introducing transparency registers on beneficial ownership and making the data widely available to investigative authorities.
- Strengthen international engagement against corruption.
- The risk posed by money laundering to the biodiversity and climate change sectors is explicitly recognized.
- Environmental crime should be increasingly included in national risk analyses.
- Environmental, law enforcement agencies, FIU’s and customs authorities intensify their international cooperation.
- The international fight against money laundering will improve through dialogue between stakeholders.
Identifying And Assessing Environmental Crime Risks
Billions of dollars in illicit funds are generated and laundered annually through overexploitation of nature.
Now the countries concerned are to identify and assess their environmental crime risks more precisely – from illegal resource extraction to waste disposal.
In its 2021 report “Money Laundering from Environmental Crime,” the FATF had already pointed out that countries with limited domestic resources are not safe from money laundering related to environmental crime. Therefore, supply chains need to be scrutinized more closely.
Understanding The Connections Between Money Laundering And Environmental Crime
Developing a sound understanding of the money laundering risks associated with environmental crime is thus an essential first step in developing a more comprehensive strategy to combat it. Understanding and controlling international supply chains will be a mammoth task.
Building working relationships with non-traditional partners, such as environmental crime investigators, environmental protection agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders, will be essential.
For companies in all industries, the issue of money laundering compliance will thus become more relevant across the entire supply chain.
You can find a summary of the meeting here.