KUALA LUMPUR, 27 July – Malaysia saw a significant rise in financial crimes during the pandemic as criminals exploited the conditions created by the economic downturn, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said.
Nor Shamsiah added that these crimes have a very important and direct effect on the country’s economic prospects, as Malaysia is now at a new frontier of compliance.
“The fight against financial crimes is one fought on multiple fronts and the chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
“Our success requires all parties — the private sector, regulators, law enforcement agencies and other government bodies and consumers alike — to do their parts and to adapt to these new threats, to transform themselves to deal with these challenges and to collaborate to safeguard the integrity of our country’s financial system,” she added.
BNM governor said that Malaysia’s central bank had launched the ‘MyFINet’ project to facilitate intelligence sharing on financial crimes in 2019, and since its inception, the platform has succeeded in supporting actions that led to the prosecution and deportation of individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
She assured that BNM will continue to leverage on MyFINet to facilitate information sharing on the latest trends and typologies of modern-day scams so that everyone can learn from each other.
“In addition, BNM will also work with the financial industry and law enforcement agencies to explore other arrangements for exchanging information on scams with foreign authorities, including foreign financial intelligence units, given the increasingly complex networks of financial crimes,” she said.
Source: The Malaysian Reserve/Agencies
