Hundreds attended the annual Baltic AML Forum in Vilnius on October 11, 2023, fueled by a shared commitment to stay abreast of evolving AML/CFT regulation, technology, and best practices. Attention to developments in Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) is critical for the survival of Financial services companies and even more so for Fintech and Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs).

The first speakers at the forum introduced me to “MiCA,” The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. MiCA is a regulatory framework from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), like MiFID II. MiCA establishes consistent EU rules for crypto-assets, including previously unregulated ones. It focuses on transparency, disclosure, and oversight for issuers and traders of crypto-assets like e-money tokens. MiCA aims to enhance market integrity, financial stability, and consumer awareness regarding crypto-assets and their risks.

David Capezza from Visa opened his talk with a story about a woman who used two-factor authentication to authorize a payment intercepted by fraudsters on her favorite website. David referred to Visa’s Biannual Threat Report for June 2023, explaining that while the global fraud rate decreased over the last six months because of more secure eCommerce technologies, fraudsters are more aggressively targeting cardholders directly, explaining why Amazon impersonators are inundating our spam folders with phishing email.

Finally, I learned that while EU member states are imposing sanctions against bad-acting nations, sanction evasion is widely prevalent and weakens the effects of the sanctions. AML/CFT investigators must pay attention when “A country without forests is a big exporter of wood.” A memorable quote from the forum.