On 26 November 2020, the ACAMS Poland Chapter celebrated its second-year anniversary. Since it launched, the chapter has created the most significant community of anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime compliance (FCC) professionals in Poland. The chapter has also kept a dynamic pace amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Face-to-face and virtual events hosted by the ACAMS Poland Chapter had between 150 to 200 plus industry participants. Poland continues to develop its position among the leaders in the global market of compliance, AML and FCC with its chapter activities and contributions to regional communities. International financial institutions recognise the strength of a local market and the advantage of having a pool of centralised talent in AML, FCC and other compliance functions in centres of excellence around the country. In addition, the chapter promotes ACAMS’ mission through the active participation of board members in meetings with industry leaders, financial institutions, banks and through compliance and FCC solutions. The chapter fosters cross-business cooperation and collaborates with sponsors. Chapter board members are also building a bridge between the public and the private sectors by inviting representatives from both areas as keynote speakers for events.
In 2019, the ACAMS Poland Chapter organised three conferences attended by the following industry experts and public officials:
- Elżbieta Franków-Jaśkiewicz, chair, MONEYVAL
- J.S.D Robert Lizak, expert, Central Anticorruption Bureau
- Martin Markiewicz, CEO, Silent Eight
- Rowena Everson, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Global Business Services Sp. z o.o.
In 2020, the ACAMS Poland Chapter organised two virtual events. The first event took place on 24 June, in cooperation with Accuity, with an audience of more than 200 AML and FCC experts. During the event, the most recent developments on COVID-19 financial crime threats were discussed. Examples from Homeland Security Investigations at the national and international level were presented by James Balsamo, Homeland Security Investigations attaché for the US Embassy in Germany. Aneta Klosek, Accuity’s director of strategic components of growth, shared how COVID-19-related crimes affect financial institutions and other businesses.
In the second half of 2020, on 25 November, the ACAMS Poland Chapter hosted a special event devoted to trafficking in human beings and how non-governmental bodies and financial institutions can build appropriate programs to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking. During the event, the ACAMS Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) Pledge was promoted, giving participants the opportunity to learn more about ACAMS and the Liechtenstein Initiative’s mission to address modern slavery and human trafficking. This event was led by chapter board members Marcin Wasilewski, CAMS and Marcin Zdrojowy, CAMS. In addition, experts Adelina Birsan from ING and Olga Wanicka from La Strada Polish Foundation gave interesting insights into the topic of human trafficking, its global dimension and the Polish perspective.
In 2021, the ACAMS Poland Chapter plans to address subjects from the front pages of AML news as well as lesser-known topics. The chapter aims to start with an AML conference on public-private partnerships, focusing on whether it is possible to build a Polish joint transaction monitoring system. On a separate occasion, the chapter would also like to cover the implementation of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) and the Criminal Law Directive (sometimes referred to in the industry as the 6AMLD) and their impact on the local market. The chapter also aims to organise events related to capital market instruments and financial crime in trade finance, topics that are rarely raised by experts and remain relatively obscure in the AML world.
Even though the ACAMS Poland Chapter is preparing for a second year of virtual events in a row, the board is eagerly awaiting in-person conferences and looks forward to meeting all AML enthusiasts from the ACAMS community!
To reach the chapter directly, email polandchapter@acams.org. For additional information on Poland Chapter events, membership details and upcoming events, please visit the chapter’s page: https://www.acams.org/en/chapters/europe/poland-chapter.
ACAMS Poland Chapter: Andrzej S. Bartelski, Krzysztof Frąc, Luiza Jarocka, Thijs Mientjes, Aneta Szmidt, Marcin Wasilewski, Karol Wojtczak, Marcin Zdrojowy
