WILLEMSTAD - The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reports an increase in unusual transactions over the period from 2015, 2016 to 2019. This is according to a new annual report.
In 2015, almost 20,000 reports of unusual transactions were made. Three years later, a record number of reports were made. In 2018, 52,170 reports of unused transactions were received. In 2019, this dropped to just under 41,000. The FIU says that not all reports have been investigated by the Public Prosecution Service (OM).
According to the FIU, the growth was mainly caused by the banking sector (national and international), the money transfer offices, and the gambling sector. It can be concluded from the annual report that the number of reports from non-financial companies and professionals such as notaries, insurance companies, jewelers, and lawyers has remained fairly low over the years. This could be a result of the major changes in reporting indicators that came into effect.
This change was related to a simplification in reporting a subjective indicator. As a result of this adjustment, fewer reports were received. FIU explains that all other subjective indicators have been removed from the list.
FIU director Anne-Marie Kemna says she will hopefully be able to publish the annual reports for 2020 to 2022 at the end of March.