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Beware of virtual money, CBN warns
In from Ali Smart ….
Worried by the new dimension of money laundering across the world, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the alarm on an emerging trend.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday at the 2nd Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financial Terrorism Stakeholders Consultative Workshop organised by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, of the (CBN) Dr Okwu Nnanna warned against the indiscriminate use of virtual currencies.
He described virtual currency “as a type of unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usually controlled by its developers, and is used and accepted among members of a specific community.”
Nnanna lamented that “virtual currency was dangerous because it was not a legal tender of any country hence it has a borderless nature without jurisdiction which makes it a channel for money laundering.”
Read also: ATM withdrawal limits: CBN faults banks
According to Nnanna, who was represented by the Deputy Director in charge of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department of the CBN Mr. Obot Akpan, virtual currency payment products and services (VCPPS) present opportunity for money laundering and other crime risk that must be identified and mitigated. Virtual currencies present a wide range of issues and challenges that require financial authorities to consider, and the challenges posed are unique and call for urgent regulator responses.”
The CBN deputy governor joined his voice with that of the FATF to urge industry players to cooperate and work actively together to address the concerns and challenges raised by the use of virtual currencies in the global financial market.
Akpan who has been in the forefront of the crusade against money laundering and other financial crimes in the country through the CBN disclosed that Nigeria would be subjected to another round of scrutiny from the FATF next year and if the country is found wanting in prosecuting perpetrators of financial crimes, the country might find itself back in the black book of the FATF.
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