The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) held the ACAMS Europe Conference in Paris, France, from May 12 to 14, 2025. Supporting the anti-money laundering initiatives coordinated by authorities, including Taiwan’s Executive Yuan Anti-Money Laundering Office, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Economic Affairs, TDCC has sent representatives to participate in the annual conference since 2023. The aim is to stay abreast of the latest international regulatory trends in anti-money laundering. This year’s agenda covered a wide range of topics, including the changes in regulatory frameworks across nations, financial fraud prevention, evolving evasion tactics of Russian sanctions, and the opportunities and risks brought by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies. Regulators, industry experts, and policymakers from around the world gathered to discuss current financial challenges and to share practical experiences and policy trends.

During the conference, one of the key topics was the challenge of cross-border money laundering risks and regulatory arbitrage, and the importance of enhancing the efficiency of inter-agency and cross-border cooperation. Data integration can be utilized to break down the “silo effect,” which indicates that a lack of communication and collaboration across organizations can result in isolated, fragmented operations— much like being disconnected in separate silos. In the past, EU member nations implemented anti-money laundering regulations by transposing EU directives into national law; however, the large number of member states and divergent supervisory practices created legal differences, which resulted in opportunities for regulatory arbitrage by criminals. To address this, the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) will officially begin operations this year, and will introduce a Single Rulebook, covering contents such as KYC and transparency of beneficial ownership information to close regulatory loopholes and enhance financial security, which clearly reflects that there should be a balance between regulatory standardization and flexibility in anti-money laundering supervision.

In addition, another issue discussed at the conference was fraud prevention, which is the highest-risk predicate offense for money laundering globally. Compared to other crimes, fraud often involves cross-border collaboration or non-licensed industries such as social media, leading to fragmented enforcement by government regulatory agencies, and, ultimately, to regulatory inefficiency. Currently, the burden of combating fraud largely still falls on financial institutions, while other relevant sectors lack the motivation or incentives to cooperate. Conference participants emphasized the need for active data integration and unlocking the value of information, and one example of this is that, due to the high risk of repeat victimization, the UK has established a victim database to identify vulnerable clients, through which member institutions can use shared data to identify and protect potential victims to prevent secondary harm. This serves as a practical illustration of the power of data integration.

Taiwan’s anti-money laundering efforts also face the regulatory opportunities and challenges discussed in the conference. With the protection of personal data as a fundamental principle, the aim to achieve effective regulation can be reached through mechanisms of data integration and sharing. TDCC has developed and maintained key systems related to anti-money laundering, including the Company Transparency Platform and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Screening Platform. Initially, these platforms offered self-service inquiry functions for businesses, and have since continuously optimized operations to include real-time/ batch API data access inquiry, enabling institutions to integrate the data into their internal systems according to their own operational needs and schedules. This has significantly enhanced the overall efficiency of AML practices.

At present, TDCC is playing a critical role in the national anti-money laundering strategy. Five of our staff members have obtained the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) qualification. Through participation in international conferences and exchanges, we stay informed of the latest global trends and regulatory priorities. We proactively communicate with and provide recommendations to authorities, and we also assist businesses in sound development and compliance enforcement. These efforts not only bolster TDCC’s professional capabilities in anti-money laundering operations but also enhance our ability to align with international standards. Looking ahead, we may consider adopting practices such as the EU’s database management and network analysis to improve each system’s efficiency and risk detection capabilities to contribute further to Taiwan’s anti-money laundering framework.