Specialized Agency of Financial Intnelligence Units – Egmont Group

(http://www.egmontgroup.org)

Background

The Egmont Group was founded in 1995 by relevant bodies of several jurisdictions in Brussels, Belgium (at the Egmont-Arenberg Palace) with the purpose of fostering international co-operation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIU)States . Presently, financial intelligence units from 127 jusrisdictions  are the members of the Egmont Group.

Mission

The main goal of the Egmont Group is to provide assistance in organization of emerging FIUs, expand and systematize international cooperation in the reciprocal exchange of information,  offer training and promote staff exchange to improve the expertise and professionalism of FIU personnel and apply better and secure communication among FIUs through the use of technology, such as the Egmont Secure Web (ESW).

Cooperation with Azerbaijan

The Financial Monitoring Service sent a membership request to the Egmont Group Secretariat in late 2009. Based on the request, the Egmont Group started adequate procedures on the membership of the Financial Monitoring Service. Within the relevant procedures, FIUs of Russian Federation and Republic of Ukraine were assigned as sponsor FIUs with regard to Azerbaijan’s membership to the Egmont Group.

Within the membership procedure, the Financial Monitoring Service was invited to take part as an Observer FIU at 18th Plenary Session of the Egmont Group held on June 27 – July 1, 2010. Next stage of procedures on accession of the Financial Monitoring Service to the Egmont Group was discussed at the plenary session. The Financial Monitoring Service also twice participated in the meetings of the Working Groups of the Egmont Group as an Observer FIU (Moldova, October 2010 and Aruba, March 2011). During the meeting of the Working Groups held in Aruba, the Legal Working Sub-Group recommended the admission of the Financial Monitoring Service under the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Egmont Group as a member. With the decision made at the 19th Plenary meeting of the Egmont Group held on 11-15 July 2011, the Financial Monitoring Service, along with other six FIUs, became fully-fledged members of the Egmont Group.

• The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures of the Council of Europe - MONEYVAL;
• Financial Action Task Force of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – FATF;
• Specialized Agency of Financial Intnelligence Units – Egmont Group;
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – UNODC;
• International Monetary Fund;
• The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe;
• United States Agency for International Development - USAID.