- Eight out of ten cases have resulted in an external intelligence report in the face of criminal evidence
- More than half of the alleged crimes are related to organized crime and tax fraud
- Banks have remitted most of the matters investigated, 24.6% more than the previous year
The Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Sepblac) processed 4,025 communications of suspicious transactions in 2013, which represents an increase of 31.6% over a year earlier. In 80% of the cases, the investigation resulted in an external intelligence report upon confirmation of evidence of possible money laundering or terrorist financing offenses, as stated in the 2013 Report of the body that was published today.
The increase in alerts for possible irregular activities has occurred thanks to the greater vigilance of both the financially obliged subjects and other sectors. In the case of the financial sector, the increase in matters referred by banks to Sepblac, which registered an increase of 24.6%, to 2,234 communications, stands out.
In the case of non-financial entities, the activity in the detection of irregular behaviors increased by 37.3%, to 670 communications. This section highlights the greater number of alerts received from notaries, property and commercial registrars, auditors, accountants, tax advisors, fund transport companies and entities linked to the gaming sector.
Collaboration with other authorities
In the section of collaboration with the national authorities, during 2013 there was an 8% increase in requests for information from Sepblac. This increase is due to the greater requests for information by the National Police Corps, which went from 144 to 182 requests, 26.4% more.
In the field of international cooperation, the number of requests for information from other financial intelligence units (FIU) grew significantly, from 490 requests in 2012 to 602 in 2013, an increase of 22.9% and the highest figure of the last four years.
Regarding the intelligence reports distributed by the Sepblac to other authorities and organizations, the increase in the sending of information to the National Police (2,475 communications, 48.3% more), to the Civil Guard (1,099 communications, a 57.9% more) and the State Tax Administration Agency (1,306 communications, 48.7% more).
Origin of the criminal activity
Sepblac has carried out a detailed analysis of 10,000 communications received between 2009 and 2013, with the aim of identifying the different elements involved in each of the suspicious operations and taking advantage of this information for the improvement of systems and procedures in fulfilling the obligations of the obliged subjects in money laundering and terrorist financing.
According to this analysis, 32.8% of the communications received correspond to activities related to organized crime; 29.3%, to crimes of a fiscal nature; 17.7%, to economic crimes; 9.9%, to activities linked to drug trafficking; 5.6% are linked to authorities and public officials and 4.7%, with terrorist financing.
The most common operations in suspicious transactions are:
- Entry of funds: cash income (37% of total communications analyzed), foreign payment orders (37%) and national transfers (16%).
- Outgoing funds: cash withdrawals (28%), payment orders abroad (26%) and national transfers (20%).
On the other hand, the sectors of activity in which risk operations are carried out are commerce (17.5%), real estate (13.3%), international trade (13.1%), liberal professions (5 , 7%), hospitality (5%), payment institutions (2.9%), financial institutions (2.6%), industry and manufacturing (2.6%) and agriculture, fishing or livestock (1.8% ).
The areas where suspicious operations are carried out are: Madrid (29%), Mediterranean area (28%), Andalusian coast (15%), north zone (11%) and insular zone (7%). The analysis also shows that 66% of the operations reported are carried out exclusively in Spain, while the remaining 34% also takes place in other countries.
About Sepblac
Sepblac is the Spanish Financial Intelligence Unit and the Supervisory Authority for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
It is an inter-agency body, in which employees of the Ministry of Economy, Bank of Spain, Tax Agency, Police and Civil Guard are located. The SEPBLAC acts under the authority of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offenses, chaired by the Secretary of State for the Economy.
Link to the report: http://www.sepblac.es/espanol/informes_y_publicaciones/memoria2013.pdf
