From 20 to 22 August 2014 in Panama City, Panama, UNODC ROPAN and the Regional Anticorruption Academy for Central America and the Caribbean (ARAC), hosted in collaboration with the Panama Banking Association, as well as other institutions in the public and private sectors, the XVIII Hemispheric Conference for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism. The conference targeted officials and representatives from financial institutions including banks, credit unions, currency exchanges, casinos, insurance companies, and brokerage houses.

Over 800 participants from 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the Conference. Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés, UNODC Regional Representative for Central America and Caribbean, offered remarks at the opening ceremony, highlighting the risks to safety and the economy, which arise when money laundering is not dealt with.

Notimerica.com reported that Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés has warned that Panama has major challenges to the problem of money laundering, as the country with a population of 3.5 million has a cash flow of $75 million which ranks it as the third or fourth financial centre on the continent, at level of New York and São Paulo.

“Whit this money supply that is moving, the multiplication of investments and the population coming to Panama, can move from $75 million to $125 million in two and half years. That must be controlled.”

Furthermore, exhibitors from 14 countries discussed issues ranging from the management of financial information in investigative journalism, to best practices in the work of correspondent entities to the typologies and particularities in several Latin American countries such as Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and others.

Sources: http://www.unodc.org/ropan/en/IndexArticles/ARAC/2014/August/xviii-congreso-hemisferico.html; http://www.notimerica.com/panama/noticia-onu-advierte-necesidad-controlar-lavado-dinero-panama-20140821135626.html