Manx plan to tackle financial crime updated

The financial crime strategy updates a previous plan from 2021

Continued collaboration is "crucial" to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, the chief minister has said.

An updated financial crime strategy sets out eight strategic objectives to tackle different forms of crime over the next three years.

They include aims to meet international standards, to share knowledge and understand ongoing threats.

Alfred Cannan said it was important for the government, businesses, regulators and law enforcement agencies to work together to ensure the island was "as safe as possible from the insidious effects of financial crime".

Mr Cannan said the document had "been adopted as a political priority at the highest level" by the Council of Ministers.

The plan, which updates a previous 2021 strategy, was produced by the Cabinet Office.

'Emerging threats'

The updated strategy mirrors the aims of the previous document in combatting a range of issues, from money laundering to "financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction".

It outlines plans to work "with industry to identify new and emerging threats" and to share knowledge "to ensure these are addressed at the earliest opportunity".

Threats would be assessed by reviewing and updating the National Risk Assessment, including a rolling analysis of data.

The roll out of the strategy would look to make sure the authorities were "empowered and appropriately resourced to inspect, detect, investigate and, where appropriate, sanction instances of non-compliance with preventative measures".

It would achieve that in a number of ways, including by supporting the Financial Intelligence Unit to "access the widest possible range of financial information".

Mr Cannan said as an international finance centre the island had to "maintain high standards".

He said: "We should not be complacent about the need to regulate, detect and enforce against financial crime activity."