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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

International Trade Organizations Release “Trade Finance Principles”; Quarterly Analysis of Global Financial Market

Financial Crimes BAFT Bank for International Settlements International

Financial Crimes

On January 24, the Banking Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) and the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (“BAFT”) jointly announced the publication of The Wolfsberg Group, ICC and BAFT Trade Finance Principles (“Trade Finance Principles”),  a replacement to the 2011 Wolfsberg Group Trade Finance Principles paper, which now addresses “due diligence required by global and regional financial institutions of all sizes in the financing of international trade.”  The Trade Finance Principles outline the standard for controlling the risks of financial crime, including but not limited to “tax evasion, fraud, human trafficking, bribery and corruption, terrorist financing, the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.” In addition, the Trade Finance Principles require the management processes undertaken by financial institutions to “address the risks of financial crime associated with Trade Finance activities.”

Separately, on March 6, the Bank for International Settlements released its Quarterly Review—an analysis that examines current global financial market trends and the uncertainty regarding potential fiscal and monetary policy changes in the changing political environment.