The Swedish Police, together with the Finish Police and other competent authorities, is conducting an EU-funded project to identify the risks of terrorist financing and money laundering in the fintech sector, and the possibilities of detecting such activities. The Black Wallet project is based on co-operation between the law enforcement authorities and the private fintech sector. SweFinTech and its member companies provide market insight for the project.
The fintech sector is a rapidly evolving market offering new and innovative products and services, often facilitating financial interactions as intermediaries. Thus, in addition to traditional, established players, there are more and more actors in the business, and therefore the flow of information and funds tend to diverge. This brings up challenges for monitoring and KYC processes, says the Swedish Police. However, this also allows other actors to gain insight in an aggregated transaction or informational flow, and enhances their possibilities to detect suspicious transactions or activities. In summary, the rapid and innovative development of the fintech sector affects the prerequisites of transaction monitoring offering both possibilities and risks.
The goal of the Black Wallet project is to build a platform for collaboration between the public and the private sector to identify risks in the evolving market and to develop risk-mitigating measures. Goals of the project also include identifying the kind of information held by the FinTech companies that should be included in a report to the Financial Intelligence Unit, and developing a manual for the FIU’s investigative work. Also, relevant training is provided both to the AML officers of the fintech companies as well as the law enforcement authorities.
All this will help the law enforcement authorities to prevent, detect and investigate terrorist financing and money laundering through the participation of the private fintech sector. SweFinTech supports the Black Wallet project making the fintech sector safer and more transparent and therefore increasing its potential to flourish.
For more information about the Black Wallet project, please contact black.wallet@polisen.se or blackwallet.krp@poliisi.fi
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