The War on Terrorist Financing: Forging an Effective International Architecture is the title of a RUSI seminar on July 25 and 26, at 61 Whitehall, London.
Money is the backbone of international terrorism, say organisers. It is the lifeblood by which terrorist organisations are able to propagate their extremist ideologies, train members, procure materials and carry out attacks.
While the actual attacks of 9/11 are thought to have cost only $400,000, the US Commission into 9/11 has assessed that Al-Qaeda spent about $30 million a year prior to its attacks, to fund its general operations, and maintain its training apparatus and organisation.
The globalised financial system has provided a mechanism for the free flow of international trade and investment, but it has also provided a means for terrorists to finance their operations. Funds may be being raised in one country, for training in a second, procurement in a third, and for the execution of attacks in a fourth. Combating terrorist financing is thus a global challenge, requiring a global response, organisers add.
Terrorist organisations have shown great ability to adapt and evolve to the measures taken to curtail their funding. New trends in terrorist financing have emerged. This has created new challenges both for governments tasked to protect the security of their citizens and for international finance centres, such as the City of London, which rely on their international reputation for integrity.
In an effort to meet these challenges, the UK has promised to use its Presidency of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the intergovernmental policy making body established by the G7, from July 2007, to hold to account those countries who are undermining the international effort through insufficient terrorist financing controls. The UK government, in February, launched a new strategy for using financial measures to deter, detect, and disrupt terrorist financing. Included are reforms implementing a more rigorous approach to reporting suspicious financial activity, a risk-based approach to tackling terrorist financing, and forensic accounting techniques to identify terrorist networks and prosecute their members.
Conference sessions include:
The Financial War on Terrorism: Forging an Effective International Architecture
Macro-Economic Analysis of Terrorist Financing: New Methods and Trends
State Responses in the Middle East and North Africa
Terrorist Financing in the European Banking System
The International Front in the Financial War on Terrorism
Uncovering the Complex Networks of Terrorist Financing
Developing Data-Sharing Between Public and Private Sectors
A keynote address is Tony McNulty MP, Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism and Police, UK. Other speakers include Commissioner Mike Bowron, Commissioner for the City of London Police;David Armond, Deputy-Director (Proceeds of Crime), Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA);Detective Chief Inspector Christos Kalamatianos, Head, National Terrorist Finance Investigation Unit, (NTFIU), Scotland Yard;Michael Snyder, Chairman, Policy Resources Committee, City of London;Andrew Hind, Chief Executive, The UK Charity Commission;Bob Ferguson, Financial Crime and Intelligence Division, Financial Services Authority (FSA);Michael Snyder, Chairman, Policy Resources Committee, City of London; andJames Muncie, Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism, Home Office.
To register and for further conference information:
