Information Sharing – Public-Private Partnerships

A new report from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) highlights the urgent need for authorities and the private sector to work together to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF), in an era of increased digitalisation, and given the speed and complexity of cross-border transactions.

Information Sharing to Combat Illicit Finance: Global Overview of Public and Private Sector Partnerships and Data Protection Arrangements examines how public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other information-sharing mechanisms can help jurisdictions and the private sector to detect, analyse and disrupt financial crime activity at speed and scale.

The report identifies at least 84 public-private partnerships globally, with 52 surveyed jurisdictions reporting at least one domestic PPP and 18 reporting more than one. It finds that PPPs stand out as permanent, effective instruments for combatting ML/TF/PF when supported by a robust legal basis, clear governance, and technological innovation.

To encourage adoption and strengthening of PPPs, the FATF sets out different models being used around the world, and highlights the need for stronger cooperation with financial institutions, virtual asset service providers, the non-financial sectors and non-traditional stakeholders, given the exponential rise of fraud globally.

The report finds that more than 75% of reporting jurisdictions are using PPPs to share strategic information such as typologies, red flags and risk trends while 55 – 66% of jurisdictions have PPPs for operational information sharing such as case intelligence, suspicious transaction report indicators and customer due diligence or Know Your Customer data reflecting different needs, context, stages and evolution of PPPs.

Key innovations being used to strengthen information sharing are set out in the report, including encrypted platforms, secure exchanges and the involvement of a broader range of stakeholders such as telecom operators and digital platforms.