The rapid development and use of new payment products and services, including pre-paid and store-value cards or e-cash, mobile payments, internet based payments and virtual currencies, has changed the dynamics of the 21st century financial market and services. These are powerful tools to enhancing financial inclusion, but at the same time they have the potential of being abused by criminals to commit fraud, money laundering (ML), terrorist financing (TF), tax evasion and other criminal purposes. The development of these new digital methods and services have increased the complexity for policy makers, regulators, law enforcement authorities, and financial institutions in assessing financial crime risks, especially ML/TF risks, attached to these instruments and the application of proper measures to mitigate and effectively manage these risks, particularly in case of cross-border transactions.
This course aims to enhance participants knowledge and understanding of financial crime risks associated with digital financial services, including risks associated with virtual assets. It will enable the participants to analyse how different types of financial crime can occur using various new payment methods and how firms can effectively mitigate and detect financial crime risks associated with them. The course also briefly analyses the financial crime risks and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic for digital financial services. Finally, it will discuss some good practices and provide illustrative case examples of implementing effective controls and measures in this area to prevent the abuse of new digital financial products and services, including virtual assets, by criminals.