Ha Noi, morning of November 7, 2025, Wildlife Conservation Society – Viet Nam Program (WCS Viet Nam), in collaboration with the Banking Academy of Viet Nam (BAV), organized a consultation meeting on the outline of the “Handbook for detecting and reporting suspicious transactions related to illegal wildlife trade.”
Participants in the consultation meeting, Ha Noi, November 2025
The meeting gathered more than 40 participants, including representatives from the Anti-Money Laundering Department of the State Bank of Viet Nam and commercial banks such as Techcombank, BIDV, Vietcombank, SHB, SeABank and ABBank, together with representatives of the BAV’s Board of Directors, lecturers, and staff.
Experts from the BAV and WCS Viet Nam presented the outline of the Handbook, which is developed and designed as a practical reference tool to support compliance and anti–money laundering officers working in banks and non-bank financial institutions in recognizing and detecting signs linked to illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in financial transactions. The team received extensive feedback on the presented outline from participants representing management authorities and reporting entities in anti–money laundering. Their comments focused on improving the structure and content of the handbook, providing demonstrated case studies and operational guidance directly related to money laundering risks associated with the IWT.
MSc. Pham Duc Anh - Deputy Head of Research and Consulting Department, Banking Research Institute, Banking Academy of Vietnam presented the outline of the handbook., Ha Noi, November 2025
At the meeting, a representative of the Anti-Money Laundering Department of the State Bank of Viet Nam also updated participants on key findings from the National Money Laundering Risk Assessment 2018 - 2022, particularly the risks associated with environmental crime, including IWT. Following that, WCS Viet Nam shared a plan of building capacity for Vietnamese financial institutions to prevent financial risks linked to IWT during 2025–2027.
The meeting was conducted within the framework of the project “Scaling up efforts to counter wildlife trafficking in Viet Nam” funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), United States Department of State, implemented by WCS in Viet Nam.