Two sets of regulations aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing will be published in the Canada Gazette on May 14, John McCallum, Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions), announced today.

“Canada remains committed to take all necessary steps as part of the international effort to deter and detect money laundering and ensure terrorists are denied access to funding,” McCallum said. “These regulations expand upon our existing regulatory framework and recognize the comments and input we have received from financial institutions and intermediaries.”

The first set of regulations, which amend the existing Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Suspicious Transaction Reporting Regulations, requires financial institutions and other intermediaries to report financial transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada where there are reasonable grounds to suspect the transaction is related to terrorist financing. They will also be required to report to FINTRAC if they are in possession of terrorist assets or have knowledge of a financial transaction involving such assets.

The second set of regulations, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations, requires financial institutions and intermediaries to report large cash transactions and international electronic fund transfers. It also outlines the requirements for enhanced record keeping, client identification and internal compliance.

These regulations will be phased in on two separate dates. Most of the provisions in the regulatory package will come into effect on June 12, while the remainder will be implemented on November 30, to allow reporting entities additional time to make the necessary changes to their systems and train their employees.

The federal government is currently finalizing regulations that will require the reporting of cross-border movements of large amounts of currency and monetary instruments.