| Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units | |
| Founding Location: | Egmont Palace, Brussels, Belgium |
| Vat Id: | (for European organizations) --> |
| Headquarters: | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Membership: | See below |
| Leader Title: | Chair |
| Leader Name: | Elżbieta Franków- Jaśkiewicz[1] |
The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is an international organization that facilitates cooperation and intelligence sharing between national financial intelligence units (FIUs) to investigate and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. National FIUs collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity and are responsible for processing and analyzing the information received. FIUs are normally not law enforcement agencies themselves, findings are shared with appropriate law enforcement or prosecution bodies if sufficient evidence of unlawful activity is found. The Egmont Group is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.[2]
The Egmont Group was formed in 1995 as an informal network of 24 national FIUs, taking its name from the Egmont Palace in Brussels where the group's founding meeting took place. The Egmont Group Secretariat established its permanent headquarters in Ottawa on 15 February 2008.[3] [4]
The goal of the Egmont Group is to provide a forum for FIUs around the world to improve cooperation in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism and to foster the implementation of domestic programs in this field. The Egmont Group provides support to member FIUs by:
The US Treasury Department defines an FIU as "a central, national agency responsible for receiving (and, as permitted, requesting), analyzing and disseminating to the competent authorities, disclosures of financial information: concerning suspected proceeds of crime and potential financing of terrorism, or required by national legislation or regulation, in order to counter money laundering and terrorism financing."[6]
The current member FIUs of the group are:
The Egmont Groups admits governmental or intergovernmental organizations as non-member observers whose roles relate to preventing money-laundering and/or the financing of terrorism.[7] Several notable organizations are observers, including: