ANTI MONEY-LAUNDERING TECHNOLOGY CREATED BY UN AGENCY INSTALLED IN NAMIBIA

ANTI MONEY-LAUNDERING TECHNOLOGY CREATED BY UN AGENCY INSTALLED IN NAMIBIA New York, Jul 24 2008 2:00PM Information technology designed to help countries fight crimes such as money-laundering and the financing of terrorism has been installed at Namibia's Financial Intelligence Centre with the help the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The software, called "goAML," was created by UNODC to help financial intelligence and law enforcement agencies step up their fight against organized crime. The tool is also designed to be a low cost, off-the-shelf solution for developing countries that could not otherwise afford to develop such systems.

<"http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/providing-affordable-it-tools-to-developing-countries.html">According to UNODC, industry experts put the cost of similar software between $3 and $6 million on the open market. Meanwhile, "goAML" is supplied free of charge, with installation and licensing costs at about $200,000.

At the request of Namibia's National Bank, the new software will be used to process, analyse and report suspicious money transactions in line with domestic anti-money-laundering laws and regulations.

The software can analyze large volumes of data and help identify and understand complex patterns of financial transactions. It also aims to introduce an element of standardization in gathering and processing financial intelligence information worldwide, with the aim of making international cooperation easier in the fight against financial crime.

UNODC says the software will be installed in Pristina, Kosovo, next month and that the 108-member Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is planning to test and evaluate it.
2008-07-24 00:00:00.000

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