March 29, 2019: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) has conducted an awareness session on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) obligations of non-profit organizations (NPOs).
Around 100 participants from the NPO sector, registered intermediaries and ICAP members were in attendance, a press release issued by SECP said.
The SECP official made a detailed presentation on the AML and CFT regulatory requirements as well as the mechanism for implementation of United Nations Sanctions Regime under resolutions 1267 and 1373 for designation of terrorist organizations and individuals.
The session focused on the relevant recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force as well as findings of the National Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment, including directions, channels and sources of terror finance, risk assessment of NPOs, and various policy, legislative and administrative measures for terror financing risk mitigation.
It also helped participants in improving the understanding of suspicious transaction reporting requirements under the AML/CFT framework.
The session also discussed the regulatory measures contained in the regulations for NPOs and intermediaries to prevent money laundering and terror financing abuses, supplemented by the best practices and recommendations contained in the AML/CFT guidelines for NPOs issued by it.
The official emphasized the fact that regulatory action against non-compliant NPOs is a regular feature of the SECP’s enforcement strategy, which will continue in the future.
