Canada

CHAPTER 8. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
of assistance, they cannot substitute formal MLA in all cases (e.g. when there is a need for the
tracing or the freezing of assets abroad). The relatively small number of outgoing requests may
also be explained by the fact that Canada is not pursuing complex and transnational ML schemes
to the extent that it should (see IO.7). Although the outflows of POC generated in Canada appear
to be moderate in comparison to the inflows of POC generated abroad, data suggests that
Canadian citizens and corporations use tax havens and offshore financial centres to evade taxes,
in particular those located in the Caribbean, Europe and Asia- cooperation with the relevant
countries in these regions would therefore prove helpful to Canada. Some domestic provincial
LEAs mentioned concerns about the delay in the sending of requests to foreign countries. In
response to that point, the IAG assures that the same case management prioritization measures
are in place for outgoing requests as for incoming requests.
Seeking other forms of international cooperation for AML/CTF purposes
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308. Canadian agencies regularly seek and provide other forms of international cooperation
to exchange financial intelligence and other information with foreign counterparts for AML/CFT
purposes. In particular, the cases studies provided as well as the discussions held on-site
indicate a regular use by LEAs of foreign experts, missions abroad to secure evidence and assets,
and joint investigations. Canada does not separate the information according to the function
(i.e. seeker or provider of assistance), and the information provided therefore combines the
objects of core issues 2.3 and 2.4.
309. FINTRAC is both a FIU and a regulator/supervisor:
• As Canada’s FIU: FINTRAC is a member of the Egmont Group and shares
information only on the basis of MOUs with counterparts. FINTRAC is
open to sign a MOU with any FIU, and the process can be concluded
very quickly, but sometimes this does not happen due to the absence of
interest of the foreign FIU. At the time of the on-site there were 92
MOUs with foreign FIUs. In the absence of an MOU, they cannot share
information. According to the feedback provided by other delegations,
the information provided by FINTRAC is of good quality. Nevertheless,
some limitations have a negative impact on the type of information that
FINTRAC can share: more specifically, the fact that (i) FINTRAC is not
habilitated to request and obtain further information from any REs; (ii)
there are no STRs from lawyers. Canada receives far more requests for
assistance than it sends to support Canadian investigations and
prosecutions. Although there were fewer queries sent to its foreign
counterparts a few years ago, FINTRAC has recently increased the
number of requests sent. The queries received and sent to the US
(which, as mentioned above, is a major Canadian partner in
international cooperation) are generally comparable. In addition to
requests sent, the significant increase of FINTRAC’s numbers of
proactive disclosures sent to its counterparts (2012-2013:52; 2013-
2014:93; 2014-2015:190) highlights the Canadian FIU’s willingness to
share the relevant information it holds with its foreign partners.
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures in Canada - 2016 © FATF and APG 2016
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