Two cheers for the Chancellor

I hold no political brief for the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the British Government, writes Martin Owen. But Gordon Brown’s Chatham House speech of 10 October on ‘Meeting the terrorist challenge’ is an eloquent justification of the use of financial intelligence, which is what ant-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) are all about. It should be required reading for all AML/CFT stakeholders [1].

Martin Owen is Vice-President, Product Design, Haydrian Corporation, a new AML vendor based in Washington State, U.S.A. but selling to banks and other financial institutions in emerging markets. He was formerly head of the FSA Financial Crime Policy unit. He may be contacted on email: martin@haydrian.com)

The speech is about the fight against terrorism. But it is vital that it should reflect a broader revolution in the governmental approach to AML/CFT.