An Anti-Money Laundering Forum, entitled “Fitness and Propriety for the Financial Sector”, was recently held on the University of the West Indies, Mona campus and the consensus is that plans are being put in place to engender anti-money laundering. The forum was hosted by The Banking League, one of the premier student led organizations based in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The Mona School of Business and Management was a fitting setting for the occasion which saw the likes of Mr. Albert Stephens and Ms. Tasha Manley as guest presenters on Anti-Money Laundering. Mr. Stephens hailed from the Ministry of Finance and Planning, as the Principal Director of the Financial Investigations Division while Ms. Tasha Manley is an experienced Attorney-At-Law and a Chief Compliance Officer at Jamaica National Building Society.

With the myriad of legislation and legislative changes impacting financial institutions, the forum was found to be of utmost importance to those studying at the university level with aspirations of taking their place in the financial sector. The club derived a need to have compliance practitioners with dynamism. The club’s President, Mr. Shawn-King Ferguson summed up the importance of the event: “Today’s forum serves as a part of our drive as a body to increase the knowledge base of our members by facilitating two key presentations that would help members contribute to the Anti-Money Laundering efforts both at home and abroad.”

The public forum was geared towards providing University students with inside knowledge of anti-money laundering and how banks and the government respond to mitigate against it. 

Ms. Tasha Manley told the large gathering what she believed was best practices in the sector as well as what can be done to avoid money laundering. It was an educating presentation by Ms. Manley, which included integral information on how best we can identify money laundering practices. Mr. Albert Stephens gave the students in attendance a taste of the lavish lifestyles many money launderers have been living. However, he was quick to point out that crime pays; he and his team were quick to seize assets under the names of Jamaica’s lottery scammers.

The event was sponsored by the club’s leading partners, The National Commercial Bank. The forum was a part of Anti-Money Laundering week, merely two days after the Jamaica Bankers Association annual conference on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing on Terrorism. The club has planned more for the university during their anninversary week of November 1-7.