U.S. Treasury Department officials from two key offices involved in the fight against fentanyl and its financing traveled to Mexico last week. The objective was to meet with counterparts from the Mexican government and representatives from the US financial sector. U.S. and Mexico to deepen collaboration against illicit finance.

This visit came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Mexico in December 2023. During her visit, Yellen expressed the Treasury Department’s commitment to “use all the tools at its disposal to dismantle the ability of drug traffickers to sell this poison in our country.”

On 8 February, officials from the Financial Crimes Network (FinCEN) of the Department of the Treasury chaired a panel discussion on illicit finance jointly with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Government of Mexico and the Banking, Securities and Savings Unit (UBVA), Mexico’s banking and securities regulatory authority.

During this public-private dialogue, issues related to cross-border financial crimes, such as laundering of proceeds derived from trafficking in fentanyl precursors, trafficking in persons, fraud and corruption perpetrated by transnational criminal organisations, were addressed.

The panel also focused on the role of money-laundering organizations in concealing the proceeds of such illicit activities. Participants included financial institutions, financial intelligence units, regulators, and law enforcement agencies from both the United States and Mexico.

On February 9, the Office for Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financial Crimes of the Department of the Treasury, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, convened the nineteenth Bilateral Working Group on Public and Private Banking.

The objective was to bring together financial institutions, policymakers, regulators and supervisors from both countries to advance bilateral strategic priorities in the fight against illicit financing.

K. Tovar

Source: Bancaynegocios

(Reference image: Kenny Eliason at Unsplash)

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