Canada’s professional advisors are preparing for new regulations to prevent money laundering.

Members of the Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors will be gathering in Toronto on Monday at the Sheraton Centre Hotel to attend a special session on the new regulations, which are scheduled to come into effect this fall.

Advisors who don’t comply with the new rules would face a $500,000 fine and up to five years in jail.

The Money Laundering session is part of CAIFA’s 2001 National Conference which kicks off on Sunday, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel. The session will take place in the Grand Ballroom on Monday, October 22, 2001 at 1:30 p.m.

The keynote speaker is Chris Mathers, a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who operated an undercover money laundering business in Canada and the United States. He is now president of KPMG Corporate Intelligence. He will brief conference attendees on the new rules and how they will affect professional advisors.

The United Nations defines money laundering as “any act or attempted act to disguise the source of money or assets derived from criminal activity.” Essentially, money laundering is the process where “dirty money” produced through criminal activity is transformed into “clean money,” the criminal origin of which is difficult to trace.

Financial advisors can unknowingly be party to money laundering if they fail to recognize a suspicious transaction and report it.

Key areas of discussion at the session will include: advisors’ new obligations under the regulations; how money laundering really works; how to recognize a suspicious transaction; and the most popular laundering techniques.

CAIFA’s National Conference will take place on Sunday, October 20 to the 23rd and is open to professional members of CAIFA as well as non-members.