Australia’s financial intelligence and anti-money laundering agency, AUSTRAC, has announced a new partnership with Pacific financial intelligence units, with the agency also set to play host to a Pacific Intelligence Analyst Course at the Australian National University (ANU).

The partnership will aim to mitigate financial system vulnerabilities within the Pacific region as a potential conduit for criminal activity. The partners will focus on intelligence-sharing, tradecraft, and systems to enhance the ability to identify suspicious financial patterns that can trigger a deeper investigation.

In the announcement, AUSTRAC said that new technologies were significantly changing the financial landscape in the Pacific, which transnational crime syndicates were exploiting.

As part of this initiative, regional experts from the private and public sectors will deliver training to identify,  track and prevent various financial crimes, including sophisticated money laundering, organised crime, cybercrime, narcotics trafficking, and corruption.

AUSTRAC chief executive, Nicole Rose PSM, said that the nature of financial crime required international cooperation and regional solutions, with the prevention of criminal and security threats to financial systems crucial for national security and prosperity

“We need to follow the money as it crosses borders and enters different financial ecosystems, and we do this by sharing intelligence and financial tools with partners,” she said

“This is why AUSTRAC is delivering this course: to share financial intelligence tradecraft with our Pacific partners, and uplift capability across our region, so that together we can combat the challenges of evolving financial crime threats.

The Pacific Financial Intelligence Analyst Course is being held at the Australia Pacific Security College (ANU) with participants’ travel costs are covered as part of the AUSTRAC Pacific Island Partnership Program funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.