On May 28, Moscow hosted the Joint Forum of Supervisory Authorities and the Private Sector under the auspices of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF). This event marked the first collaborative forum between the two FATF-style regional bodies. The Forum’s theme was Risk Management in the Era of Emerging Technologies.
The event was attended by senior officials and experts from supervisory authorities, financial intelligence units, international organizations, and the private sector entities from Algeria, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. Experts from the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee and Office of Counter-Terrorism, as well as the New Development Bank, also took part.
The central event of the Forum was the panel discussion Trends of the Future: Global Challenges and Threats of Digitalization, featuring Yury Chikhanchin, EAG Chairman and Director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service; His Excellency Hamid Saif Al Zaabi, MENAFATF Vice-President; Suliman Al Jabrin, MENAFATF Executive Secretary; Sergey Teterukov, EAG Executive Secretary. The session was moderated by Galina Bobrysheva, Deputy Director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service.
Mr. Chikhanchin expressed his gratitude to MENAFATF colleagues for their collaboration and coordination of efforts in organizing the forum, emphasizing the key role of cooperation between FATF-style regional bodies in strengthening national anti-money laundering frameworks, fostering knowledge exchange, and sharing best practices in public-private partnership.
“Criminals actively involve citizens in illegal activities using new technologies’ features such as speed, anonymity, and cross-border capabilities. Alarmingly, some citizens place greater trust in criminals than in authorities. Transnational crime is becoming one of the most significant threats. This necessitates proactive measures to involve youth, financial experts, scientific and educational organizations in interstate dialogue to form a responsible generation capable of protecting not only themselves but also society from financial security threats,” said Yury Chikhanchin.
Galina Bobrysheva underscored the role of financial institutions and non-financial professionals in primary risk assessment. As the Deputy Head of the Service noted, the banking sector serves as a key component in joint work to minimize risks and essentially launch the entire financial monitoring chain.
“Supervisory authorities are tasked both with establishing regulatory frameworks and overseeing compliance. Yet, the success of the system hinges on trust among all participants. The effectiveness of subsequent stages — financial investigations, criminal prosecutions, and asset recovery — depends largely on the quality of compliance within the private sector,” said Ms. Bobrysheva.
The Forum also featured panel discussions on the following topics Know Your Customer in the Digital World and Marathon or Sprint: Managing the Risks of the Future.
Agenda items included combating cybercrime and the criminal misuse of virtual assets, development of international cooperation in the digital sphere, synergy of anti-fraud and AML systems, application of artificial intelligence and machine learning, risk-based supervision, crypto compliance, and other subjects.
