Ha Noi, September 23, 2022, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - Viet Nam Program collaborated with the Banking Academy of Viet Nam to conduct consultation with relevant stakeholders on the plan to survey awareness and capacity of financial institutions to prevent financial risks associated with wildlife crime in Viet Nam.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Thi Hoang Anh, Director of Banking Scientific Research Institute spoke at the opening of the workshop, Ha Noi, September 2022
More than 80 delegates from the Department of Anti-Money Laundering of the State Bank of Viet Nam, branches of State Bank of Viet Nam in selected provinces, commercial banks, financial service providers and banking research and training centers attended the consultation workshop in-person at the Banking Academy of Viet Nam and via Zoom platform.
At the workshop, participants were provided information on the situation of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) globally and in Viet Nam, and its connection to money laundering and other financial risks by representatives of WCS Viet Nam and the United for Wildlife Financial Task Force, The Royal Foundation. They also had the opportunity to learn about the role and participation of financial institutions in detecting and preventing money laundering risks from IWT from the sharing of representatives of the Anti Money Laundering Office of Thailand, Department of Anti-Money Laundering of the State Bank of Viet Nam, and some commercial banks.
Mrs. Kate Bedwell - representative of the United for Wildlife Financial Task Force, The Royal Foundation, and Mrs. Sirirut Rattanamongkolsak Senior Investigator, International Cooperation Division. The Anti-Money Laundering Office in Thailand, Ha Noi, September 2022
In particular, they provided the research team of WCS Viet Nam and Research Institute For Banking with comments to improve assessment plan and survey forms to assess the awareness and capacity of FIU, commercial banks and other financial service providers in Viet Nam on preventing money laundering risks related to IWT.