- ABCON, NFIU Move Against Money Laundering
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria and Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit have expressed their commitment to combating money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
This was disclosed at the end of a joint nation-wide training/sensitisation programme on ‘Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism reporting for Bureaux de Change operators.
According to a statement, the training, which commenced on December 11, 2018, focused on the obligation of registering and filling reports on the NFIU goAML -Anti-money laundering portal.
It added that a session was held on January 5, 2019, in Kano and another session held on January 22, 2019, in Abuja among others.
As part of the NFIU/ABCON partnership, ABCON has taken the train-the-trainers training of the NFIU to the six geopolitical zones of the country in order to strengthen capacity for over 4,000 BDC operators nationwide, it added.
The President, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the anti-money laundering training was intended to familiarise the BDC operators with the process of money laundering — the criminal business used to disguise the true origin and ownership of illegal cash — and the laws that make it a crime.
He said that money laundering and terrorist financing posed not only a threat, but that there were enormous threats and challenges to the economy, security, and social life in Nigeria, the region and globally.
In a statement by Ibrahim Pindar of the NFIU, he said, “We wish to congratulate the ABCON on the attendance recorded on the concluded training of BDC operators on the key Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism obligation of registering and filling reports on the goAML -Anti-Money Laundering portal.”
The NFIU advised ABCON to train BDCs regularly so as to cover AML/CFT knowledge-gap identified from most operators and ensured that their members registered on the goAML portal.
It stated, “Those trained by the NFIU team should be engaged by ABCON to train their members on a continuous basis. Any change of Compliance Officer should promptly be reported to the NFIU. ABCON should ensure that the operators have alternates for their compliance officers for succession plan and continuity.”
