In 2012 the Virgin Islands agency responsible for investigating reports of suspected wrongdoing in the territory’s financial services sector saw a substantial decline in the number of reports of suspicious activity it received.
The Financial Intelligence Agency received 135 “suspicious activity reports,” mostly from banks and trust companies, in 2012. By comparison, 153 SARs were received in 2011, according the FIA’s 2012 annual report, which was tabled last month in the House of Assembly.
But the type of suspected crimes being reported hadn’t changed.
“Much like the previous years, the majority of reports were linked to fraud and money laundering related offences, mainly occurring outside of the BVI,” the report stated.
The 11.7 percent decline in SARs the agency received followed a trend that had been ongoing since 2009, when 227 were received. The FIA described some of those reports as “defensive in nature” as they were filed by private sector businesses looking to fulfil their legally imposed reporting requirements.
See the May 8, 2014 edition for full coverage.
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