The 2018-19 annual report of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has been presented to the parliaments by the Finance Minister Bill Morneau and it covers key activities and operations of the agency in between the periods of 2018 and 2019. As highlighted in the report, FINTRAC made 2,276, (80% increase in the last five years) disclosures of actionable financial intelligence to the Canadian Police. It also supported 296 project-level investigations and many individual investigations in Canada. FINTRAC’s effort in the advancement of Projects aimed at protecting Canadians and the country financial systems including Guardian, Chameleon and Protect, Canada’s innovative public-private sectors partnership designed to fight money laundering related to the trafficking of fentanyl, romance fraud, and human trafficking in the sex trade was highly significant.
As part of the Canadian government commitment to develop and maintain a strong and effective Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime, and FINTRAC’s commitment to work with Canadian businesses to prevent the activities of criminals and terrorists, FINTRAC launched a Comprehensive Transparency Initiatives during the period to support Canadian businesses in fulfilling their obligations under Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Facts:
FINTRAC received 2,754 voluntary information records from Canada’s police, law enforcement and national security agencies in 2018–19. This includes a list of alleged criminals and people/organizations financing terrorists.
Fraud, drugs, and tax evasion were the three most common offences disclosed by FINTRAC Intelligence.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, municipal police forces and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service were the top three recipients of FINTRAC’s financial intelligence.
FINTRAC works closely with businesses to support and enforce their compliance with the obligations under the Act, initiated 135 outreach and engagement activities, carried out 497 compliance examinations in 2018/2019 and were majorly focused on the real estate sector, money services businesses and securities dealers.
FINTRAC received an award for Excellence in Regulatory Openness and Transparency from the Community of Federal Regulators for its Transparency Initiative in 2018–19.
In December 2018, FINTRAC published the Terrorist Financing Assessment, the first of its kind in Canada and internationally. The Centre also published an Operational Alert regarding Professional Money Laundering Through Trade and Money Services Businesses.
