'Suspicious activity' reports increased for eighth year in a row

Thursday 05 August 2021

Guernsey's Financial Intelligence Services annual report has revealed increased reporting of suspicious activity from e-gambling, trust and other financial services.

The FIS recorded 3,086 SARs in 2020, which is an increase of 26% from 2019. It has been hailed as good news, with financial institutions in the Bailiwick "bouncing back" after covid slowed down their day-to-day processes.

"Although the outbreak of the pandemic within Guernsey in late March resulted in a decrease in the filing of SARS, it was encouraging to see that this was short-lived," said Head of the Bailiwick FIS, Adrian Hale.

"[This illustrated] the elasticity and resilience of the Bailiwick's financial sector."

Pictured: The report outlines the number of SARs reports over the last four years.

The FIS receives and disseminates SARs throughout the year, with money laundering the most prevalent suspected offence. It accounted for 76% of all the reports in 2020.

Most of the reports came from the e-gambling industry at 74%, followed by trust and banking.

12 reports were linked to not-for-profit or charitable organisations and a further 12 were raised under the Terrorism and Crime Law 2002.

Pictured: A breakdown of the SARs has been published for 2020.

Guernsey's FIS adheres to standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body that regulates and implements legal practices in the finance industry. 

FIS published multiple FATF guidelines throughout 2020 to local firms, as the industry tackled swift changes in regulation to cope with the impacts of covid.

"The outbreak initially saw the FIS focusing its efforts on rapidly adapting working practices to embrace technology and remote working," said Mr Hale.

"The impact of covid-19 did not hinder the fight in combating money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing or the sharing of intelligence between the FIUs," he said.

Looking to the future, the FIU will be preparing for a MoneyVal review in 2023, where a committee of experts will gauge the effectiveness of local anti-money laundering processes.