FINTRAC participating in FATF study on new payment methods

By Christine Duhaime | October 8th, 2010

According to this article in the Toronto Star, FINTRAC is working with the FATF to evaluate money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with prepaid cards, mobile payment services and Internet based payment services.

The FATF will be collating information from cases where mobile and Internet based payment services were used to launder funds or support terrorism and assess the risks associated with those payment methods. In the past, the FATF has identified the unregulated Internet gambling industry as a source of money laundering originating from mobile and Internet payment services.

Earlier this year, the U.S. federal regulatory agency FinCEN, released proposed new regulations to the Bank Secrecy Act to regulate prepaid cards, plastic cards, mobile phones, electronic serial numbers, key fobs and similar mechanisms that provide a portal for funds that have been prepaid and are retrievable and transferable. Canada is expected to follow suit within a few years with similar regulations.

Comments are closed.