The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has mandated all compliance officers working for authorized financial institutions to attend its two courses in anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing, in cooperation with the International Compliance Association (ICA). The call was made at a briefing organized by the CMA here to introduce the two international courses to compliance officers. The CMA signed an agreement with ICA last month to offer the courses. Ahmed Al-Jasser, Director of Capital Market Institutions Supervision Department at CMA, said the Saudi regulatory body considers compliance and anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing a priority as it seeks to sustain the highest global international standards and solutions in these fields. He also said CMA seeks to enhance the culture of compliance among financial institutions as part of a long-term strategic goal to develop bylaws as well as inspection environment among financial institutions. This, he said, would enhance the financial services industry in the Kingdom. He pointed out that by mandating the attendance in the two certified international training courses, compliance officers would be trained to follow the best international practices in combating money laundering. Al-Jasser said the training program organized by ICA is customized to practitioners in the Kingdom and designed to enhance knowledge and develop skills as it merges the rules and regulations of CMA as well as local laws and regulations with best international practices. Furthermore, the program takes into consideration the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for anti-money laundering, he added. Bill Howarth, ICA Chief Executive Officer, said the purpose of the briefing session was to begin preparations for the launch of the two programs. He noted that governments as well as global financial institutions all over the world have taken compliance as a priority in their agendas and future strategies. "It is really important that organizations strengthen their systems and processes and also have the staff to properly operate and understand the systems. Protection for the organization against all of those problems will come from the staff," he said. He said CMA was the first capital market regulator in the Middle East to take the initiative of mandating the attendance of compliance officers in authorized financial institutions in the training program.
