Identifying ways to combat serious financial crime is the key focus when financial intelligence units (FIUs) from across the Pacific meet in Brisbane.

Representatives from 13 Pacific nations are gathering for the Pacific Financial Intelligence Community (PFIC) plenary, which is hosted by AUSTRAC.

The three-day event, which is now going on, provides a valuable opportunity for FIUs to further explore initiatives to fight financial crime. These include joint operations, intelligence sharing, capacity-building activities and region-wide technological enhancements.

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Since last year’s meeting in the Cook Islands, PFIC members have focused their efforts on combating transnational organised crime, corruption and child sexual exploitation. AUSTRAC has worked with FIUs to ensure they have the training and capabilities required to proactively identify and tackle these crimes.

As well as ongoing themes such as money laundering, this year’s meeting will also address emerging issues such as illicit use of cryptocurrency, new payment platforms and gambling in the region.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said PFIC is a good example of the value strong regional partnerships bring to combating money laundering and other serious financial crime.

“As Australia’s financial intelligence unit, we’re not just focused on ensuring the security of Australia’s financial system, we also have a key role to play in working with our neighbours to combat the harms posed by criminal networks across the region,” Mr Thomas said.

“To put it into perspective, behind each of these crimes are people who are left devastated by the impacts of online scams, child sexual exploitation, environmental crimes or drug trafficking.

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“PFIC was established by AUSTRAC and other regional partners in 2021 to promote greater collaboration among Pacific FIUs, and we’re so proud of the outcomes it’s already delivered.”

The Head of the Cook Islands FIU and outgoing Co-Chair of the PFIC, Mr Walter Henry, said he’s honoured to have played a leading role in PFIC over the last two years.

“Serious financial crime affects all of our nations, so we must work together to combat threats which undermine our financial security and community safety,” Mr Henry said.

“The PFIC has proven to be a vital channel for sharing intelligence, for working on capability enhancements and for staying across emerging threats and developments in technology.”

The Attorney-General will address the conference, to speak about Australia’s commitment to building strong regional partnerships to combat transnational financial crime, and ongoing efforts to strengthen Australia’s anti-money laundering system.

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Representatives from the financial intelligence units of Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu will be in attendance.

AUSTRAC is the permanent Co-Chair of the forum. The Head of the Fiji FIU is scheduled to take on the rotating Co-Chair position at the end of this plenary meeting.

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