Ecuador's Superintendence of Banks took part in an anti-money laundering awareness initiative marking the National Day for the Prevention of Money Laundering, organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, where Superintendent Roberto Romero delivered a presentation on unauthorised financial entities. In the talk, titled “Ghost Banks, a latent risk”, Romero highlighted the danger these entities pose to citizens who entrust them with funds and reported that around 50 are detected each year. The Superintendence carries out frequent sanctioning control actions to prevent them from continuing to conduct irregular financial operations, and the session also explained how to identify such entities based on the ways they seek to attract users’ money in exchange for loans or returns that are often fictitious. The event also included the Embassy of Canada, the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador.