COLOMBIA

On January 12, the Ministry of Finance published a draft decree that seeks to modify the structure of the Financial Analysis Information Unit. The initiative establishes a new proposal for the structure of the financial agency in order to have better tools to prevent money laundering. The draft will be under public consultation until January 22, 2022. Comments may be sent through the following link.

 The Ministry of Finance considers that it is necessary to strengthen the institutional capacity to respond to the new challenges in terms of prevention and detection of money laundering and financing of terrorism. To this end, it modifies the structure of the agency, which will now consist of an Office of the Director, five sub-directorates (operations analysis, strategic analysis, analytical, financial administration and information technology), plus advisory and coordination bodies.

 The functions of the Director’s Office, comprising the Internal Control, International Affairs, Planning and Legal Advisory offices, will be to participate in the formulation of policies for the prevention, detection and fight against money laundering and customs fraud in all its manifestations, to analyze new sectors affected or susceptible to be used for money laundering and to centralize and systematize tax, customs and exchange regulations, among others.