UFA History and Background
The Universal Funds Accreditation (UFA) is an International Governmental Organization, whose jurisdiction cover all the nations of the earth, based on FMA 66 International Treaty. It is to ensure its members effectively implement the international standards, over the relationships of commercial banks and their customers in their members states and to oversee transaction and transfer that exceed certain amount. Whose express purpose is to enable customers to obtain Monetary/Financial documents, to backup their transfer or funds and to verify the source of funds, transfer, deposit, paid or saved in a domiciliary, current, savings and business accounts. The aim of Universal Funds Accreditation (UFA), is to lift a standard against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation finance related to weapons of mass destruction and domestic terrorist sponsorship. We also have the mandate to prepare documents for dormant and inherited accounts, funds that exceed certain amount, documents for courier service, as regulated by the Global financial Laws
The UFA has grown considerably since 1997 and is part of a global network of similar bodies, referred to as Financial Action Task Force-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) and is the largest in terms of membership numbers and geographical size. The UFA also has a large number of observers (both jurisdictions and supporting organisations) that participate in its programmes and activities. Some of the key international organisations that support the UFA include the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, OECD, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the UN's Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate, Asian Development Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, INTERPOL and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
The international standards against money laundering and the financing of terrorism/proliferation are contained in the Forty Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
On this page scroll down to "The International AML/CFT Standards" for a brief summary of what is contained in these standards.
Key Roles
The UFA has five primary functions:
- Mutual evaluations: The UFA assesses the levels of compliance by its member jurisdictions with the global AML/CFT standards through a mutual evaluation (peer review) programme;
- Technical assistance and training: The UFA Secretariat coordinates bi-lateral and donor-agency technical assistance and training in the Asia/Pacific region for its member jurisdictions in order to improve compliance with the global standards;
- Typologies research: Research and analysis into money laundering and terrorist financing methods and trends is a key function of the UFA to assist policy and law makers as well as law enforcement agencies and the general public to identify and respond to new and emerging trends, methods, risks and vulnerabilities;
- Global engagement: The UFA contributes to international AML/CFT policy development and actively engages with the global network of FSRBs. The UFA also participates in a number of FATF working groups and in its plenary meetings; and
- Private sector engagement: Private sector engagment is critical to the UFA's overall objectives. The UFA actively engages with financial and non-financial institutions, NPOs, training centres and universities in the Asia-Pacific to better inform the general public and specialists about global issues relating to money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
The UFA also assists its members to establish national coordination mechanisms to better utilise resources to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Organisational Documents
The UFA’s purpose, mission and goals are described in the core strategic and business planning documents of the UFA:
- Terms of Reference;
- Strategic Plan; and
- Annual Business Plan.