The Tunisian Commission for Financial Analysis (CTAF) has just published its activity report for the years 2018 and 2019, a special edition that coincides with the ^15th anniversary of the commission.

The presentation of the report was the subject of a press conference held online today Wednesday, December 16, 2020 by Mr. Marouane El Abassi, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), in his capacity as President of the CTAF, in the presence of Mr. Lotfi Hachicha, Secretary General of the CTAF.

2018-2019 is the starting point for cooperation between the CTAF and designated non-financial companies and professions and their supervisory authorities. Several objectives have been achieved, mainly the publication of regulatory texts, the organisation of awareness-raising days, the conduct of AML/CFT inspections by inspectors of the supervisory authorities and the receipt of suspicious reports (SDs).

Indeed, since 2012, the number of suspicious reports has continued to increase to reach 597 DS in 2019 against 515 and 503 reports, respectively in 2018 and 2017. The number of SDs received in the last two fiscal years is distributed as follows :

Although the number of SDs received by the CTAF from banks represents 86% of declarative flows and continued to increase in 2019 to reach 89%, it is important to mark the beginning of a declarative effort on the part of other taxable persons, including in particular Designated Non-Financial Companies and Professions (DNFBPs).

This favourable development can be explained by two reasons. On the one hand, it is the result of the continuous effort made by the CTAF in terms of training and communication with taxable persons, with a view to raising their awareness of the challenges of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). On the other hand, by the inspection missions carried out by the various supervisory and regulatory authorities.

The trend in the distribution of SDs in 2018-2019 for legal persons and natural persons remains virtually unchanged compared to the period preceding the implementation of the FATF Action Plan. This is how natural persons account for 71% of the total DS received in 2019 against 75%, a year earlier.

The year 2019 was marked by an increase in SDs received on behalf of natural persons, peaking at 421 against 386 declarations in 2018, an increase of 9%. Also, the number of SDs received on behalf of legal persons increased by 34% to 176 declarations against 129 declarations a year earlier.

As for the declarations of operations on BBE (Foreign Banknotes), the total number of operations declared in 2019 stood at 28,751 operations for a total amount of 362.7 million dinars, against 22,420 operations in 2018 having totalled 287.1 million and 18,308 operations in 2017, i.e. an increase in the number of transactions of the order of 28% and 22.4% respectively for the two years.

In 2019, the CTAF handled 645 cases related to reports and suspicious information compared to 600 cases in 2018 and 153 cases in 2017. This remarkable evolution in 2018 and 2019 compared to 2017 is the result of the strengthening of the CTAF's human resources, technical means and new information system, implemented during 2018 as part of the implementation of the FATF Action Plan.

A look back at the last three years shows that the files transmitted, amounting to more than 10 million dinars, have experienced a significant decrease; from 86.7% of the total in 2017 to an average of 30% for the period 2018-2019, corresponding to the two years of the FATF action plan. It should be pointed out that the amounts involved do not in any way mean that these sums have been laundered.

In the end, the 2018-2019 reporting activity of the CTAF recorded the receipt of 1,112 reports of suspicion (DS) and the processing of 1,245 files of which 710 files were disseminated to the competent authorities causing the freezing of 86 million dinars.