The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that last month, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) delivered an unusual submission to the House standing committee on finance. Guest columnist John Turley-Ewart writes that the submission calls out weaknesses in the regulation, reporting and prosecution of money laundering in Canada. FINtrac, an analysis and supervisory body, draws particular attention. Criticizing Canada's anti-money-laundering framework as lacklustre now suggests it is hurting the industry's reputation abroad, especially in the United States. The CBA thinks we have lots of AML sizzle and no steak -- that Canadian banks are compelled to comply with an endless list of transaction reporting requirements that have little relation to real AML risks (all sizzle) that, in turn, generate relatively few intelligence reports and convictions in Canada for AML offences (no steak). Banks and other businesses that report to FINtrac "submit 12.5 times more reports than those in the U.S., and 96 times more reports than those in the U.K," notes the CBA, yet FINtrac "provides a disproportionately low number of intelligence reports to law enforcement." The CBA calls this "high-volume, low-value reporting."
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