Attorney-General Graham Leung presented the 2023 Annual Report of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in Parliament on Monday.
Esther Sue, the Acting Director of the FIU, noted that 2023 posed significant challenges due to evolving trends in financial crime and heightened demands from law enforcement agencies for the FIU’s intelligence and expertise. She emphasized that the FIU, as an intelligence agency, must proactively share financial intelligence with law enforcement for the investigation and prosecution of serious financial crimes. Additionally, the FIU assists these agencies in tracing and restraining criminal proceeds.
In the past year, the FIU forwarded a total of 429 intelligence reports to law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and government ministries. Many of these reports were based on suspicious transaction reports submitted to the FIU by various financial institutions in Fiji.
The FIU also completed an assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing risks within Fiji’s banking sector in 2023. This assessment report is now published and available on the FIU’s website.
Sue highlighted the FIU’s role as a regulator in ensuring that financial institutions maintain robust internal systems and controls to prevent the misuse of their products and services for money laundering, terrorist financing, and other serious financial crimes.
In 2023, the FIU conducted risk-based supervision of financial institutions, as well as non-financial businesses, including legal practices, real estate agencies, and accounting firms. The unit performed on-site supervision of several real estate and legal professionals to evaluate their compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, complemented by offsite compliance monitoring. This risk-based approach enables efficient allocation of resources to high-risk entities in light of the numerous institutions requiring supervision.
To foster digital innovation in the payment system sector, the FIU issued new guidelines outlining requirements and guidance for financial institutions on employing digital ID systems for customer due diligence or electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) processes.
The Acting Director of the FIU expressed gratitude for the strong support received from the Reserve Bank of Fiji, which funds the FIU, as well as the financial institutions and partner law enforcement agencies for their contributions to the FIU’s accomplishments in 2023.