The International Chamber of Commerce Qatar (ICC Qatar) in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics recently organised a seminar on fighting financial crimes.

The seminar titled, Fighting Financial Crimes with Artificial Intelligence, highlighted how financial and corporate institutions can significantly improve the effectiveness of their customer onboarding experience, due-diligence processes, sanctions screening, and financial crime detections by infusing machine learning  systems and artificial intelligence (AI) in their day-to-day operations. It also discussed the current supply chain challenges businesses are facing to keep up with globalisation and the global impact that environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have on businesses.

ICC Qatar, in a statement, said that there is growing interest in regulating ESG products and services around the world and there are huge strides taking place in the industry. Additionally, international organisations are also partaking in the movement, which partly addresses the climate crisis, by issuing recommendations to guide the development of ESG-related regulations.

The statement further said that according to Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), government agencies account for 90% of the new ESG-related regulations in 2019. In 2020, Qatar alone has promulgated two regulations that fall under the umbrella of ESG; Law No 18 of 2020 amending certain provisions of the Labor Law and Law No 17 of 2020 determining the National Minimum Wage for Workers and Domestic Workers, which came into effect in March 2021.

According to Moody’s ESG Solutions, the average climate disclosure rate globally has risen from 16% in 2020 to 22% in 2021, indicating increased participation in ESG reporting, further highlighting its relevance.

ESG is not only important as a form of risk assessment, but is becoming increasingly intertwined with capital allocation, according to ICC Qata.

Mohamed Daoud of Moody’s Analytics and a speaker at the seminar, said that digitalisation of the customer and supplier onboarding process is accelerating across the Middle East. Financial and corporate institutions are embracing Know Your Customer (KYC) processes and screening solutions that support effective due diligence.

He said that a digital, intelligent KYC programme will reduce false positive alerts, support better decision-making and enable organisations to run an effective anti-money laundering programme.


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