PRIME Minister Andrew Holness has called on the financial sector to ensure a regulatory environment that removes profitability from criminal activities.

“We must take the profit out of crime. Criminals must have no access to the financial system; and where they operate in the informal economy and the backwaters of our country, we must find them and separate them from their illegal gains,” he said.

Holness was giving the keynote address at the fifth annual Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Conference yesterday at The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, being hosted by the Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA) and the Jamaica Institute of Financial Services from October 10 to 11.

The prime minister urged collaboration to ensure that criminal activities remain unprofitable.

“The challenge for all of us — in the banking system, commerce or industry — is (to figure out) how to build a system that detects and deters such criminal and ‘terroristic’ use of our financial system,” he said.

Holness pointed out that money laundering, which is directly linked to crime, is a serious global problem, estimated to account for between two and five per cent of global gross domestic product.

“Jamaica cannot afford to be seen as a weak link in the chain of international efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. We must have a robust anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism regime in place to prevent criminals from benefiting from the proceeds of crime,” he said.

The financial sector, he said, must ensure the effectiveness of a comprehensive AML/CFT framework through continual assessment of its impact in reducing money laundering and criminal activities.

He added that the National Security Policy indicates that taking the profit out of crime is one of the foremost measures for Government to combat crime. This was also underscored in the recently published recommendations by the Economic Growth Council.

A robust system of compliance and scrutiny in the financial sector is particularly critical as the country and the Caribbean region are faced with the prospect of losing ties with international correspondent banking partners, which the prime minister described as the “most significant and imminent threat to the region’s financial stability at this time”.

Holness, meanwhile, reiterated the Government’s commitment to taking all steps to insulate the financial sector from the de-risking threats, and said his Administration has actively sought to highlight the concerns in all fora, including engagements with the Caribbean Community, the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

— JIS