A discussion on public-private partnership in combating financial crime has been held

The focus of the discussion: delivering a message at the management level that cooperation platforms for the voluntary exchange of information should be used, as well as sharing the first conclusions on their practical usability and examples of good practices to be adopted from other jurisdictions that have already introduced equivalent mechanisms.

The event was opened by Ieva Tetere, Chairwoman of the Council of the Finance Latvia Association and CEO of SEB banka, who pointed out in her opening address to the attendees that financial crime investigation can only be successful if there is efficient cooperation between all those involved in the investigation process.

The participants of the event were addressed by Jānis Bordāns, Minister of Justice, who emphasized that “the Ministry of Justice has taken several important steps to develop mechanisms aimed at the more efficient fight of Latvian authorities against money laundering and terrorist financing.”

Evika Siliņa, Parliamentary Secretary of Prime Minister of Latvia, gave a more detailed insight into the Latvian government’s key priorities in the fight against financial crime.

The event saw the participation and attendance of more than fifty high-level experts and heads of institutions from the Financial and Capital Market Commission, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of Latvia, the State Revenue Service and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the management of the Ministry of the Interior, officials of the Ministry of Finance, representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Latvia and the State Police, as well as as well as responsible board members of several financial institutions. Among the participants were international experts from Refinitiv and RUSI: Jan Persson-Tryggedsson and Nick J. Maxwell.

Public-private cooperation platforms have been created for the public and private sectors to exchange information on their own initiative that is needed to combat financial crime. The approach is new and has been introduced to expedite the investigation of financial crime and make the reporting of suspicious transactions more meaningful. Currently, only a few countries have implemented the appropriate legal framework and tested it in the first real cases, and we can be proud that Latvia is one of them.

RUSI is one of the leading oldest think tanks in the UK that studies the models and impact of information cooperation platforms, and these studies have also created preconditions for the implementation of the relevant concept in Latvia.

One of the main findings of the discussion is the role of cooperation between all participants involved in the investigation process in order to achieve the best possible and efficient outcome.

Voluntary information sharing. 

Information prepared by the Finance Latvia Association.