This course is designed for public and private sector officials who need to be aware of the latest money laundering regulations and require an effective training to better understand, identify and report suspicious money laundering transactions to appropriate authorities. Nowadays, money laundering is gaining both national and international attention; therefore, the pressure is increasing on institutions to comply with the money laundering regulations and take effective steps to combat money laundering. This course aims to provide basic money laundering training to both public and private sector officials in a better, quicker and efficient way by making them familiar with many of the laws and regulations now enhanced to deter money laundering.

This UNITAR e-learning course will give a holistic overview of the money laundering, including definitions, various processes of money laundering and impact of money laundering on international development. It will also focus on national and international efforts to combat money laundering; identification of suspicious transactions; and reporting and setting up practical and effective money laundering policies and procedures in the institution. The course is also open to the general public who is interested and wants to be aware of the Money laundering Regulations. Some previous knowledge of money laundering and familiarity with financial concepts will be helpful in this course.

a) To give a basic overview of the concept of money laundering to the delegates with little knowledge of Money Laundering;

b) To make delegates aware of the international standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing;

c) To give an overview of legal requirements and preventive measures to be adopted by developing countries to combat money laundering;

d) To discuss anti-money laundering regulatory regime of UK (Proceeds of Crimes Act (POCA) 2007 and Money Laundering Regulations 2007) as a case study to understand how International standards should be compiled into national legislations; and

e) To look into the measures to combat terrorist financing.
 

This course is designed to give practitioners theoretical understanding and practical tools which are necessary to carry out Customer Due Diligence (CDD) measures, identify suspicious transactions, and to avoid breach of money laundering regulations applicable to them.

This Course is an intermediate level course which is targeted to ministries of finance, government officials working in financial sector, financial institutions and law firms and other staff from both the private and in-house practice. It includes, for example, the staff of central banks, commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, multinational corporations, accountancy firms, consultancy firms, law firms, and others who require a thorough understanding of the subject and wants to create awareness about money laundering amongst its employees at various levels in the organisation.

 

Course Structure

This online course will involve a mix of self-study and online interaction culminating in a practical understanding of cross-cultural negotiations through online group work. Throughout the duration of the course, participants will go through theoretical and conceptual material prepared by UNITAR and will have an opportunity to relate it to real-life situations through online discussions and peer-to-peer interaction. There will be a quiz/assignment at the end of the course which is a requirement for obtaining a course certificate.

Course Outline

This course will comprise of the following modules.

Module 1: An Introduction to Money Laundering
This module will introduce the concept of money laundering; it will discuss what is money laundering and what are the various processes of money laundering. The module will give participants an overview of economic impacts of money laundering and terrorist financing on international development.

Module 2: Role of International Organisations and Regional Bodies in Combating Money Laundering
This module will discuss the development of international standards and the role of various international organisations in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which includes, for example, the role of the United Nations, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), International Organisations of Securities Commissions, the World Bank, Basle Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to combat money laundering. The module will also briefly discuss the role of regional bodies in combating money laundering.

Module 3: Legal System Requirements and Preventive Measures to Combat Money Laundering
This module will focus on international conventions and treaties that deal with money laundering and consider certain preventive measures and steps that should be taken by developing countries to comply with international standards. The module will discuss the importance of ratification and implementation of international conventions by various countries, criminalization of money laundering, the significance of having clear guidelines on sectors that are subject to anti- money laundering requirements, legal requirements for supervision and regulation, and the development of laws for seizure, confiscation and forfeiture of illegal proceeds.

Module 4: Anti-Money Laundering and UK Regulatory Regime – A Case Study
This module will discuss UK’s regulatory regime to combat money laundering as a case study. It will discuss various rules and regulations developed in UK to comply with and implement 40 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). It will primarily discuss the following: the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, with the new amendments w.e.f 2007; Money Laundering Regulations 2007, as implemented on 15 December 2007; how to identify and deal with suspicious transactions; and the exemption of reporting in privileged circumstances.

Module 5: International Measures to Combat Terrorist Financing
This module will discuss various international measures to combat terrorist financing, focusing primarily on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to combat terrorist financing. It will discuss how countries should comply with and implement these FATF recommendations on terrorist financing by incorporating them in their laws.

UNITAR online courses attempt to create a networked learning environment, in which participants have the flexibility to learn at their own convenience and pace but also are able to interact with peers and experts through the discussion board facility.

This online course will be conducted in the English language.
 

This course is designed as an online course in which participants will be primarily responsible for their own learning. Each lesson will consist of the following components:

1) Basic Reading Materials (Compulsory Reading Materials): these materials are intended to educate the participants about the basic concepts and principles applicable to the subject-matter of the lesson. It will include, where appropriate, sample materials. These materials will constitute the required reading materials for the lesson

2) Advanced Reading Materials (Optional Reading Materials): this will consist of optional reading materials for participants who wish to learn more about the topic than what is covered in the lesson.

3) External Links: This will refer the interested participants to additional books, articles, documents, and websites that deal with the issues raised in the lesson.

4) Quizzes: At the end of each lesson there will be a set of quizzes for participants to answer. These quizzes are designed to test the participant's understanding of the lesson. Participants are required to pass each quiz and obtain at least 80% or more passing grade in order to be eligible for a certificate. All quizzes will need to be taken online.

5) Community Discussion Board: There will be a community discussion board available on which participants can post questions or comments that can be seen by the instructor and the other participants. This discussion board will be moderated by the course director and UNITAR. Structured discussion strings will be posted on a weekly basis.

All successful participants will be eligible to a certificate after completion of this online course.