Top Arab Banker Speaks at Money Laundering Conference in USA

More than 1,500 attendees from the United States and 40 countries have signed up to the Money Laundering Alert 13th Annual International Conference at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Florida March 17-19, 2008. The conference organizer, Miami-based Alert Global Media, Inc. is the publisher of Money Laundering Alert and moneylaundering.com Premium, the world's foremost sources of money laundering news, analysis and guidance.

Hany Abou-El-Fotouh, First Vice President and Group Head of Corporate Governance and Compliance at ABC Bank Egypt has participated at three

panels among prominent panelists from leading world financial institutions and regulatory authorities. He describes the conference as "an opportunity to offer guidance from Anti Money Laundering (AML) experts offering strategies and solutions particularly how to survive in this demanding regulatory environment"

Abou-el-Fotouh has tackled major misconceptions about Islamic finance and banking, preparation of AML independent testing and regulatory examinations as well as best practices about tailoring AML training program .The panels have been highly interactive.

About the size of Islamic finance Abou-El-Fotouh said “Islamic finance is rapidly growing. It is estimated at USD 700 bn globally and expected to be USD 1.4 trillion. There are more than 300 Islamic financial institutions and Islamic windows operating globally. The major principles of Islamic finance are prohibition of all kind of interest, no financing of sinful and socially irresponsible activities as well and dealings are on contractual basis"

He clarified several common misconceptions about Islamic banking and finance. “The major myth about Islamic banking is that it is about a cluster of hard line religious believers and about religion only. The reality is nearly 60% of Islamic banks’ customers are non-Muslims who mostly believe that Islamic finance is an alternative way of doing business and making money through wealth creation and distribution” Said Abou-El-Fotouh. He further added "another misconception describes Islamic banks as being regulated only by Sharia (Islamic law). The reality is Islamic banks draw their founding blocks from Sharia and they operate fully under the `law of land' where they exist"

"Anti-money-laundering training is an integral component of compliance program", said Abou-El-Fotouh. "The training program must be tailored to all professional staff relevant to the work they do. Board members and senior management should understand AML regulatory requirements, ramifications of noncompliance, and the risks posed to the financial institution. The training should be conducted annually." Speaking on the requirements of independent audit testing of AML compliance program, Abou-El-Fotouh said "The regulations require an independent review, not a formal audit by a certified public accountant or third-party consultant.