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Activity name (as stated in the original proposal):
Support to local law enforcement agencies, FIU and financial institutions in intelligence products and wildlife related investigations (INL VN Focus; Act 2.2)
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Service (to be performed):
Conducting a survey on the awareness and capacity of the financial intelligence unit (FIU), commercial banks and financial service providers on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) -related money laundering risks in Viet Nam
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Location of Service provided: Remote and/or on-site working
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Duration of Service’s performance: July - September 2022
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WCS’s person in charge (PIC): Le Manh Tuan
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I. Background:
Wildlife crime is a complex, global problem that needs to be addressed through various strategies. To move, hide and launder illicit money generated from illegal wildlife trade (IWT), transnational organized crimes exploit weaknesses in the financial and non-financial sectors, enabling further wildlife crimes and damaging financial integrity (FATF, 2020). Financial investigation is an important step/part of identifying revenues, property sources, money flows and uses. FIUs, banks and financial service providers, and Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) take important roles in financial investigation activities.
International organizations/units working on financial investigation such as Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), Egmont Center of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) Excellence & Leadership (ECOFEL) have recently conducted a series of research and analysis to assess money laundering aspects of wildlife crime and provided suitable methodology and tools that jurisdictions can apply to combat IWT in the aspects of linked illicit financial transactions.
However, to date, it has not been applied in investigating illegal wildlife trade flows and jurisdictions rarely investigate the financial trail left by this crime (UNODC & APG, 2017). The limited focus on the financial side of IWT has largely prevented jurisdiction from being able to identify and sanction IWT networks.
Training evaluations previously conducted by WCS revealed that police lack understanding of money laundering and financial information and have insufficient intelligence products provided by FIU, while prosecutors and judges do not have sufficient information to prepare for the development of money laundering crime cases. Those with weak inter-agency coordination lead to hesitation in undertaking financial investigations or pursuing money laundering cases, especially at the district levels, where most (wildlife) investigations occur.
Therefore, WCS believes that by increasing awareness, capacity and inter-agency coordination of FIUs, banks and financial service providers, LEAs, prosecutors and judges, they can pay greater attention to IWT cases and effectively utilize financial investigative tools.
To do that, at this stage, we aim to assess the awareness and capacity of FIU, banks and financial service providers on IWT-related money laundering risks. The assessment result helps to design awareness raising and capacity building activities for those agencies.
So, we are seeking a consultant/ a group of consultants to support us in realizing the mentioned goal.
II. Objectives:
The consultant(s) will provide service to (i) assess the current awareness/perception of FIU, banks and financial service providers in Viet Nam on money laundering risks related to IWT, (ii) assess their needs for capacity building and intelligence support; (iii) and share the result of this assessment.
III. Description of work:
The consultant will closely work with WCS Viet Nam’s PIC to execute the following, but not limited to, activities, deliverables and timelines:
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Activities
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Outputs/ deliverables
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Completed by
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Allotted time (# of days)
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Payment schedule
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Activity 1: Design survey protocol (survey forms, questionnaires, methodology guidance, and report structure) that will be used to survey the current situation of preventing and combating money-laundering risks related to IWT in the banking sector in Viet Nam
The survey should meet the below, but not limited to, key points:
- General perceptions of the banking sector about money laundering risks from IWT;
- Legal framework and application of regulations relating to reporting suspicious transactions in practice;
- Necessary measures to reinforce monitoring IWT-related money laundering risks such as the development of warning indicators related to IWT, information sharing mechanism, inter-sectoral coordination, reporting to FIU;
- Potential needs (awareness raising, capacity building, intelligence support and exchange with relevant government agencies, and partnership with other organizations such as NGOs, etc.).
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Developed survey tools (survey forms, questionnaire, methodology guidance, and report structure)
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August 2022
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To be determined according to the proposal of consultant and agreed by WCS
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To be determined according to the proposal of consultant and agreed by WCS
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Activity 2: Co-host technical brief/workshop aims at but is not limited to:
- Consult/pre-test the developed survey protocol under Activity 1;
- Share the plan of assessment to make participants aware of it and get their support during implementation
The technical brief/workshop should have the participation of the representative of the State Bank of Viet Nam, commercial banks, financial service providers, and relevant government agencies (if appropriate)
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Technical brief/workshop organized
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Aug 2022
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To be determined according to the proposal of the consultant(s) and agreed by WCS
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To be determined according to the proposal of the consultant(s) and agreed by WCS
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Activity 3: Conduct the survey and develop a survey report using the developed tools targeting FIU (State Bank of Viet Nam), commercial banks, and financial service providers. Mode of activities might include consultation meetings and/or field visits for in-depth interviews, and group discussions.
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Raw data and survey report
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Aug-Sept 2022
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To be determined according to the proposal of consultant and agreed by WCS
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To be determined according to the proposal of consultant and agreed by WCS
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Activity 4: Co-host a sharing workshop to:
- Share the survey results and findings, and recommendations;
- Lead the discussion on the need of FIU, banks and relevant government agencies for information sharing and intelligence support from NGOs to detect and investigate money-laundering risks related to IWT, inter-agencies cooperation…
The sharing workshop will have the participation of the representative of the State Bank of Viet Nam, commercial banks, financial service providers, and relevant government agencies, especially LEAS.
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Workshop organized
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Sept 2022
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To be determined according to the proposal of the consultant(s) and agreed by WCS
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To be determined according to the proposal of consultant(s) and agreed by WCS
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Total allotted time (total working days): To be determined according to the proposal of the consultant(s) and agreed by WCS.
IV. Requirements:
Consultant/ a group of consultants must meet the following criteria:
- Master degree in economics, commerce, finance, banking or relevant fields.
- At least 5-10 proven years of experience in research related to financial issues, especially in anti-money laundering, that includes but not limited to development of survey/assessment protocol, data gathering, development of survey/assessment report, and the ability to co-host workshop events for data gathering or report dissemination.
- Must be a member/members of a research institute/centre in the banking system.
- Able to reach out to FIU (State Bank of Viet Nam), commercial banks, and financial service providers around the country and engage them in the survey process.
Experienced in conducting research on IWT-related money laundering risk would be an advantage.
V. Application procedure:
Interested candidate(s) are invited to send to vietnamconsulting@wcs.org before 17:00 of 28 July 2022
(i) Technical Proposal
Part 1: Technical approach/Methodology and Detailed work plan
Offerors shall explain your understanding of the objectives of the assignment, the technical approach and the methodology you would adopt for implementing the assessment to deliver the expected outputs and outcomes. Please also outline the detailed plan for implementing the main activities/tasks of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones, and tentative delivery dates of the reports.
Part 2: Management, Key Personnel, and Staffing Plan.
Offerors shall describe the structure and composition of the team and key personnel positions necessary for implementing the scope of work with clear role and responsibility. CVs of all team members are included in this part.
Part 3: Corporate Capabilities, Experience and Past Performance (applicable to Corporate only)
i) Copies/links to 02 similar pieces of research/products.
ii) Financial proposal (attached template): including consultant fee (total of working days and daily rate/person in VND including Personal Income tax) and estimate of other expenses (if any).
Note: Only shortlisted candidate(s) will be contacted