KUALA LUMPUR: Institutions reporting to Bank Negara Malaysia registered suspected fraud the most in 2023.
It made up 23 per cent of the 317,435 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) filed with Bank Negara during the year.
The number of STRs was up 31 per cent from the previous year.
The other reported offences were mainly suspected money laundering, tax offences and organised crimes.
The number of STRs received in 2023 more than doubled that of 2020.
To process and analyse the large number of STRs received, Bank Negara leverages technology, including data analytics.
Bank Negara said it has been working closely with supervisory authorities and engaging with reporting institutions regularly to improve STR reporting mechanisms and quality.
This is undertaken through individual or industry-wide engagement sessions, one of which was the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism Compliance Workshop 2023 organised for the insurance and takaful sector.
Bank Negara said these sessions aimed to improve awareness of the expected standards of suspicious transaction reporting, as well as sharing of emerging risks and modus operandi of prevalent high-risk crimes.
The financial intelligence unit (FIU) actively shared financial intelligence with domestic law enforcement agencies and more than 50 foreign FIU counterparts in 2023 to support cross-border investigations.
About 71 per cent of the disclosures made to domestic law enforcement agencies and foreign FIUs during the year were related to high-risk crimes such as fraud, corruption and organised crimes.
The disclosures and continuous close engagement between the FIU and law enforcement agencies have supported ongoing investigations on major crimes such as drug trafficking, smuggling, corruption, organised crimes and fraud.
These investigations resulted in the arrests of more than 100 individuals, seizure of criminal proceeds and revenue recovery of above RM290 million.
The disclosures also supported the monitoring and investigation of cases related to national security matters.