A Bermuda Chapter of the Egmont Group, the international anti-money laundering association, is to be formed this spring.

The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) is an international association of FIUs. The grouping was formed in 1995, and took its name from the palace in Brussels where its inaugural meeting took place.

More than 100 countries have created FIUs, which are national organisations that collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity. This information is supplied by the financial industry and other organisations and professions required to report transactions that they suspect are involved in money laundering or the financing of terrorism.

FIUs are normally not law enforcement agencies; their mission is to process and analyse the information received. If evidence of unlawful activity is found, the matter is passed to the Public Prosecutor.

Bermuda has a sophisticated infrastructure in place to deal with money laundering. The Financial Intelligence Unit is a section of the Police Service.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 1997 established the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee for the purpose of advising the Minister of Finance on money laundering in Bermuda; issuing guidance as to compliance with the Act; and advising the Minister of Finance on Bermuda’s participation in the international effort against money laundering.

The Committee is chaired by the Financial Secretary and is made up of senior officers from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Department of Public Prosecutions, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Bermuda Financial Investigation Unit, H. M. Customs and the Registrar of Companies. Formal recognition of the Island’s reputation is increasingly demanded by international co-operation in the face of money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. Similarly, much of what has in the past been carried out informally in the area of corporate governance now falls under international regulatory standards.

Compliance, the term for ensuring that organisations meet or exceed all their legal obligations, has been one of the fastest growing disciplines in the Bermuda market.

[bul] The Bermuda Association of Compliance Officers has announced the complete line-up of speakers for its international conference in early June to explore the world of compliance. The two-day conference will be held at the Southampton Princess on June 4 and 5. The Premier, Finance Minister and chief executive officer of the Bermuda Monetary Authority will address the conference.

The significance of the new Egmont chapter will be discussed at a session featuring William Baily, the chairman of the Egmont Committee and Neil Jensen, chairman of the Egmont Training Working Group.

Keynote speakers at the conference will be Peter German of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a former director general for financial crime in Canada; and Bob Consumano, ACE’s global general counsel.

Other topics to be discussed at the Summit will be Bermuda’s anti-money laundering and terrorism prevention strategy; anti-trust compliance for banking and other financial institutions; legal issues relating to proceeds of crime legislation; damage control should things go wrong; and all aspects of Bermuda compliance.

Carolyn Hanson, of the International Compliance Association, will discuss standards of competence for compliance professionals and the conference will close with the “confessions of a money launderer”, from Kenneth Rijock of World Check.

Full details of the conference are available at www.abco.bm.