Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1377253
15 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 MAY 2021 INTERVIEW is not only a matter for Malta, there are other jurisdictions where cash is still deemed im- portant." Centralised Bank Account Regis- ter 'a milestone' The introduction of the Cen- tralised Bank Account Register – a requirement of the EU's 5th Anti-Money Laundering Direc- tive - constituted something of a milestone for the FIAU in that it has sharply reduced the wait and red tape when it comes to retrieving essential information on bank accounts in Malta, and on who their holders are. Dr Frendo explains how the starting point had been a re- quirement of the 5th AMLD and that while some member states' registers cover more than bank accounts, as in Malta's case, and is actually widened to insurance policies and investment portfo- lios. Nevertheless, the CBAR represented a quantum first leap for Malta in this respect. The concept behind the reg- ister had initially been for tax evasion detection purposes, but, since then, it has developed in- to a crucial tool to combat the funding of terrorism - a stipu- lation the Directive in question lays out in black and white. "The idea was that when you are dealing with the funding of terrorism, you need to have information as immediately as possible," Dr Frendo explains. "So the moment you get con- tacted by a foreign authority about a possible transfer linked to terrorism or money launder- ing, you need to provide them with information as quickly as possible as to who is in control of that bank account, where it is held - in short, information that would allow action to be taken. The information includes ba- sics such as name, surname, place of birth, place of resi- dence, ID or passport, IBAN and bank account number. There is, however, no immediate ac- cess to data on balances and withdraws, and the collection of transactional data or interest is not provided for by the system. As Jonathan Phyall, the FI- AU's Senior Manager for Legal Affairs, explains, "We actually ask for that kind of information but the idea behind Centralised Bank Account Register (CBAR) as such is for the authorities to get an idea of where to look right away. "Prior to the introduction of the CBAR, what used to happen was the FIAU would send out a request to each and every indi- vidual bank asking, for exam- ple, if Jonathan Phyall holds an account with them. That took a considerable amount of time, which is precious in these types of investigations. "This information is now ac- cessible through a database in an instant. "What the CBAR does is it gives us a snapshot and then once we launch an investigation, as an FIU we can then ask, for example, for a particular set of transactions or a list of transac- tions pertaining to an account." A search on the CBAR, he ex- plains, kicks in only after a sus- picious transaction report filed at the FIAU, after a request from a foreign FIU for informa- tion on particular people, or on the basis of an analysis conduct- ed of the FIAU's own volition. "There is always a trigger for searches on the CBAR," he adds. "It is never a fishing expedition." up to €10,000 Jonathan Phyall What the CBAR does is it gives us a snapshot and then once we launch an investigation, as an FIU we can then ask, for example, for a particular set of transactions or a list of transactions pertaining to an account