Buksh: Bankers Body Should be at Centre Stage in Creating Awareness
TThe Fiji Institute of Bankers should be taking centre stage in educating and creating awareness on a wide spectrum of issues in terms of finance. The Financial Intelligence Unit director Razim Buksh made the comment during the Fiji Institute of Bankers one-day workshop on Banking Security and Threat Countermeasures.
The workshop was at ANZ House, Suva on Friday.
More than 70 of its members were offered training on digital security-related trends, singling out money laundering and fraudulent activities as two major problems confronting the industry today.
“It is very important for us as bankers in Fiji that we keep up with developments happening around us, both locally and internationally,” Mr Buksh said.
“This forum sets the right scenario and picture in Fiji that we need to be mindful of the things that surround us as we embark on a solid foundation of digitization and providing electronic platforms for various products and services.”
The financial unit, in presenting a report to the Parliamentary Standing Committee early this month, last year estimated that a total of $81 million was available for possible laundering within Fiji’s financial system. Fiji Institute of Bankers president, Saud Minam, said emerging global trends, digital in particular, put the onus on bankers to do more to protect customers.
“In particular, as customers increasingly move towards the use of digital channels to do their everyday banking, including via ATMs, EFTPOS, Internet Banking and mobile phone banking, it is becoming more and more important for bankers to stay on top of the issues covered in this workshop to help safeguard our customers,” he said in a press statement.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the amount of moneylaundered worldwide in one year stands at 2-5 per cent of global GDP, or US$2 trillion (about FJ$4 trillion).