Superintendence of Banks of Ecuador and UNODC start technical review to update key AML/CFT and proliferation financing regulations

The Superintendence of Banks of Ecuador and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) held their first technical roundtables to review and update core rules on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and other related risks, aligned with Ecuador’s new Organic Law on Prevention and the international standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and GAFILAT. The work was carried out under the DISRUPT project, which supports Ecuador’s efforts to strengthen capabilities against organised crime and illicit financial flows. The sessions, held in Quito on 6 and 8 August, brought together technical and legal teams to analyse priority regulatory instruments, including the Control Standard for the Management of Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation Financing Risk (ARLAFDT), the qualification framework for Compliance Officers, and the regulatory sandbox. The process included benchmarking against international standards, incorporating practices drawn from Peru, Colombia and Uruguay, and UNODC’s preliminary legal recommendations, which are to be validated with the Superintendence’s teams to produce final documents. A regional technical session is also envisaged to exchange experiences with Latin American supervisory authorities, with the outcomes intended to feed into the rule design and support cross-border cooperation against financial crime.