Karachi: A new high tech data centre was inaugurated at the Financial Monitoring Unit of State Bank of Pakistan in Karachi to track down money laundering and terrorism financing.
The centre was inaugurated by the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, British High Commissioner and Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) here on Friday.
This new, state of the art, integrated data centre for anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing was established with the financial assistance of UK Department for International Development (DFID) and support of UNODC. The centre is going to host a specialist analytical suite of software (goAML) developed by UNODC. It will enable the Financial Monitoring Unit to automate collection and analysis of suspicious financial transactions being received from banks, exchange companies and other reporting entities in Pakistan. Moreover the integrated system will enhance the capability of FMU in disseminating financial intelligence to designated law enforcement agencies in an efficient manner.
Previously, analysis of financial data at the autonomous Financial Monitoring Unit was undertaken manually which was slow and vulnerable to oversights. Now, the customised software and high precision equipment installed in the new data centre will allow the Financial Monitoring Unit to analyse suspicious transactions and currency transactions in a more robust, sophisticated and automated manner. This centre will greatly enhance FMU’s capacity to generate more meaningful financial intelligence with the prospect of identifying, prosecuting, and deterring a greater number of criminals and terrorists operating in the country.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony the governor SBP, Ashraf Mehmud Wathra said “I am confident that FMU’s Data Centre will strengthen its ability to generate better financial intelligence which would help our law enforcement agencies in successful investigations and prosecutions of money launderers and terrorism financers.”
“The UK Government is proud to have supported the establishment of the Financial Monitoring Unit’s data centre, as part of the Pakistan Government’s wider commitment to tackle financial crime. This is a great step forward by Pakistan to meet its international obligations and close the space for money laundering and terrorism financing in the country”, Thomas Drew CMG, British High Commissioner said.
The Representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Cesar Guedes said “The launch of the data centre at FMU today and its future utilisation for the goAML system supported by the UNODC will be recorded as a significant step taken for the People of Pakistan to build a transparent, just, and fair society in which suspicious financial transactions and financing of terrorism are monitored, deterred and prevented.”
