The first National Risk Assessment workshop for the Marshall Islands held last month in Majuro was a key step for the RMI government to identify money laundering and terrorist financing threats to the nation, as well as beginning development of an action plan to address the risks.
The three-day workshop held at the ICC in Majuro also met a requirement of the international Financial Action Task Force that requires countries to take a series of steps to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The National Risk Assessment (NRA) process is assisting the RMI government in “identifying the money laundering and terrorist financing threats and vulnerabilities in country and to develop an action plan to mitigate or address risks,” said RMI Banking Commissioner Sultan Korean. The NRA is also helping the RMI in addressing “de-risking” related to banking “as it will provide assurance to US banks and regulators that we are properly taking steps to address money laundering and terrorist financing deficiencies with immediate measures to address them,” Korean added.
The three-day program brought together representatives of many government agencies with private sector and NGO officials.
The RMI’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the Banking Commission are working together with the World Bank in the assessment process.
Last month’s workshop was the second phase of a three-phase assessment program. It started late last year with two video conferences with international consultants that set the stage for the three-day assessment in Majuro in January. The final step in the process is for a concluding workshop to go over the final review of the of the risk assessment results and action plan.
Read more about this in the February 16, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.