Financial Crimes Compliance

The Financial crime compliance department has the responsibility to monitor and mitigate financial crimes risks facing the FIs subject to the supervision of QCB. The Department carries out supervisory activities including (but not limited to) offsite and onsite supervision to ensure compliance of the sectors and FIs as per the obligations under the AML/ CFT Law and the QCB Instructions and in line with the international standards provided by FATF and other international bodies.

The Department shall be responsible for devising an RBS strategy that contains a plan for money laundering, financing terrorism, proliferation financing and other financial crimes risks supervision. The plan must ensure that the administrative burden, which includes the frequency, coverage and scope of the supervision activities, is determined based on the results of the risk assessment exercise.

The section is responsible for developing and managing regulatory instructions and guidelines for financial institutions in line with applicable laws and international standards to combat financial crimes, keep abreast of relevant standards and international best practices. The section is also responsible for coordinating, and communicating with national and international stakeholders to combat financial crimes.

The section is responsible for the off-site assessment process of ML/TF and other financial crimes inherent risks that exist in financial institutions. Also, the section is responsible for ensuring effective mapping of such risks into a heatmap. The section also reviews inspection reports, liaise and escalate high-risk matters and violations to relevant stakeholders for timely risk mitigation and breaches penalization.

The section is responsible for developing on-site inspection plans and mapping risks of financial institutions. Moreover, the section is responsible for evaluation of institutions' risk-based approach and manage the identification of cases that violate regulatory requirements. The reports are prepared and assessed to ensure compliance of FIs with the applicable rules and regulations.

The section is responsible for the preparation of periodic reports on combating financial crimes, tracking monthly changes in financial crime data, and calculating risk and performance indicators related to financial crimes within the financial sector. The section is also tasked with the collection of risk related data from all financial sectors in the State of Qatar. The section also provides recommendations for continuous improvement of reporting and data analytics processes. The section also supports other teams within QCB on data quality issues with respect to data submitted by FIs.

The section is responsible for the comprehensive monitoring and examination of the financial institution’s activities through the utilization of the regulatory technologies. The primary objectives during the investigation process include identifying new emerging financial crime typologies and fostering a resilient regulatory framework with the financial institutions to effectively implementing system and controls