Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government has made on assisting the Egmont group to establish a Centre of Excellence for Financial Intelligence Units.

In the Action Plan for Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Finance, published on 24 April, the Government committed to supporting increasing the international reach of law enforcement agencies and international information sharing to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing threats.

At the Prime Minister's Anti-Corruption Summit on May 12, the Government announced that the UK would provide funding for the Egmont Group (the international organisation of Financial Intelligence Units) to establish a Centre of FIU Excellence and Leadership to support national Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). The programme is intended to ensure that FIUs are able to effectively detect and recover illicit funds through managing and acting upon Suspicious Activity Reports which banks are required to provide, and to transmit intelligence safely between jurisdictions to support investigations.

UK funding will provide the ability to manage and supply the programme, drawing on rostered experts from developed country FIUs to deliver it. Discussions are at a preliminary stage on the design of the content of the Centre.