ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) will shortly set up an Anti-Money Laundering Unit (AML) to develop in-house expertise on the ways to detect and prevent money-laundering.

In view of the growing concern over the implications of this form of financial malpractice, an official source told Dawn here on Tuesday, the AML would assess training needs and conduct research on an ongoing basis in order to remain abreast of the new methods employed by miscreants to conceal their sources of funds and the manner in which they are used.

AML, he explained, was part of Technical Assistance Reforms , which is a 4-year project being implemented with technical assistance worth $26.5 million from the World Bank.

A follow-on of the Financial Sector Deepening and Intermediation Project (FSDIP), the project has the SBP as the implementing agency. As such, the SBP would be responsible for coordinating and managing utilization of the funds.

The World Bank has allocated $0.8 million of this assistance to the State Bank of Pakistan and SEC for building awareness and strengthening the institutional capacity of the regulators for prevention of various illegal economic activities, e.g. money laundering, financial fraud and terrorist financing.

The Technical Assistance, according to the source, would be utilized to carry out amendments in rules, regulations/ Ordinances/Acts enforced by SECP and bring them into line with the detection/prevention of anti-money laundering activities e.g. irregular financial transactions, reporting customer identification, record keeping standards, internal policies and controls as well as verification of accounts through coordination with agencies.

The project also aims to conduct studies on best practices for development of capital market.