Everyone is susceptible to financial crime risks and it can be committed through many methods, including mail, phone, and the internet. It is important that we all be vigilant and report any suspicion of financial crime immediately.
What is Financial Crime?
Financial crime can take many forms and may include the followings:
Fraud – which can be described as an intentional act or arrangement with the purpose to deceive or the intentional use of deception to obtain an unjust or illegal advantage for one party or parties to the detriment of another. Once example of fraud is forgery, which means knowingly making a false document with the intent to defraud, or the creation of a false written document or alteration of a genuine one with the intent to defraud.
Misappropriation of client funds – means taking money or other property received from an individual for a specific purpose and fraudulently misapplying it to another purpose.
Market Abuse – is defined as the misuse of insider information, creating false or misleading impression as to the supply, demand or value of an investment or distorting the market.
Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing – is an attempt to disguise the source of money obtained through, or the purpose of, illegal activity so that it appears to have originated from a legitimate source. While Terrorist Financing is the act of willingly providing or collecting funds with the intention that they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used in order to carry out a terrorist act.
Standard Life will not tolerate any form of financial crime, be it committed by professional criminals, our business partners, our customers or our staff, and we will cooperate fully with the authorities in the investigation and the prosecution of those suspected of financial crime.
Deterring and preventing Financial Crime
It is important that you develop a policy and implement processes and controls to deter financial crime activities. The Policy should sets minimum operational standards throughout your organization that will allow you to deter, detect, prevent and report financial crime activities.
To deter Financial Crime activities you should:
- Have an understanding of financial crime and be aware of the red flags inherent in your own operation. You should refer to various fraud warning messages, such as the one posted on our public website, to become aware of fraudulent schemes;
- Promote and support an anti-financial crime culture within your organization, along with on-going awareness programs and training to your staff on your organization's own controls and procedures;
- Develop and implement procedures to ensure that financial crime risks are identified, assessed and managed in your organization;
- Remain vigilant to the possibility of financial crime in your area;
- Report all suspicions of financial crime to local authorities and/or to the insurer whose product or services you suspect were subject to financial crime; and
- Cooperate in the investigation of financial crime if required.
Standard Life expects the highest levels of integrity from our staff, our partners and our customers. We are fully committed to protecting assets entrusted to us from the effect of financial crime.
We all have an important role to play. Deterring financial crime is everyone's responsibility. We expect you to be vigilant and report any suspicion of financial crime immediately.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.
