Employees of the control and compliance services of “Uzbekistan Industrial and Construction Bank” JSCB and “Octobank” JSC participated in a two-day special professional development course organized by the Law Enforcement Academy of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The programme was dedicated to combating money laundering, assessing financial risks, and applying anti-corruption compliance mechanisms in banking activities.
The courses were held in cooperation with the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Central Bank. The sessions were conducted by professors and teachers of the Academy, specialists from partner institutions, and experts from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
During the sessions with national experts, the requirements of national legislation, as well as the standards and recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), were studied. Participants reviewed methods for identifying and assessing financial risks, indicators of suspicious transactions, procedures for their analysis and taking appropriate measures. The issues of preventing and managing conflicts of interest, as well as compliance with sanctions-related restrictions, were also discussed.
Based on practical cases, the procedures for applying a risk-based approach, conducting proper customer due diligence, and assessing financial transactions according to the level of risk were analysed. Together with experts, participants discussed the causes of problems and shortcomings encountered in banking practice, organizational and legal mechanisms for addressing them, and the application of international standards to the activities of banks in Uzbekistan.
Experts from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime conducted sessions on typologies of money laundering using droppers and their role in fraud schemes. Droppers are individuals whose bank accounts or payment instruments are used to transfer criminal funds. Through practical examples, the indicators of financial schemes based on the use of such individuals and methods for identifying them were examined.
With the participation of international experts, issues related to organizing anti-corruption compliance based on the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption were also studied. Based on practical examples, methods for assessing corruption risks that may arise in banking activities, as well as issues related to selecting and applying appropriate compliance mechanisms, were examined.
