Brussels, 12 February 2021 – Today, the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime (the “Coalition”) is announcing a number of significant initiatives intended to inform how to improve the fight against financial crime, as well as announcing the addition of two new Members – the Basel Institute on Governance and The Sentry.
This follows the Coalition’s recent publication of the Information Wall which highlights the high threat level and significant harms facing societies, and a need for improving the effectiveness of the collective response to financial crime.
Following the meeting of its Members in December 2020, the Coalition decided to examine how effectiveness can be improved both in combatting financial crime and combatting corruption. As a result, we are announcing the establishment of five new committees to be led by known and respected leadership figures. These are:
- Anti-Corruption Expert Working Group – Chair: Gretta Fenner
- Effectiveness Expert Working Group – Chair: Sir Rob Wainwright
- Americas Regional Chapter – Chair: Sarah Runge
- Europe Regional Chapter – Chair: Che Sidanius
- Middle East North Africa Regional Chapter – Chair: Ibtissem Lassoued
The Coalition welcomes nominations from third-party experts that are interested in contributing and/or participating in the work of the Coalition and its Members in these initial five areas. For those interested, please inform the Secretariat by emailing secretariat@gcffc.org.
John Cusack, Coalition Chair, said: “I am delighted to welcome Gretta Fenner, Sir Rob Wainwright, Sarah Runge, Che Sidanius and Ibtissem Lassoued who have agreed, in addition to their existing roles, to lead new Expert Working Groups and Regional Chapters for the Global Coalition. Under their leadership, we are set to assess, examine and contribute expert opinion into key fora of stakeholders and policy makers, across a range of focus areas and regions. I am also very pleased to welcome the Basel Institute on Governance and The Sentry as new Members, which will add further expertise to the work of the Coalition.’
ABOUT THE GLOBAL COALITION TO FIGHT FINANCIAL CRIME
Founded in 2018, the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime brings together 20 organisations from the public sector, including law enforcement and policing, as well as the private sector, including banks and FinTechs, think tanks, and not-for-profits, all committed to collaborating to make the fight against financial crime more effective.
ABOUT THE BASEL INSTITUTE ON GOVERNANCE
The Basel Institute on Governance is an international non-profit organisation working across sectors to strengthen governance and counter corruption and other financial crimes. For more information visit: www.baselgovernance.org
ABOUT THE SENTRY
The Sentry is an investigative and policy team that follows the dirty money connected to African war criminals and transnational war profiteers and seeks to shut those benefiting from violence out of the international financial system. For more information visit: www.thesentry.org
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE FIVE CHAIRS
Gretta Fenner is the Managing Director of the Basel Institute on Governance and Director of its International Centre for Asset Recovery. Under her leadership from 2005–2008 and from 2011 to date and together with her management team, the Basel Institute has grown into an 85+ strong agile and global organisation with programmes across Southern and East Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central and South Asia, with field offices and embedded experts in over 10 countries, and an extensive network of partners in anti-corruption and good governance at the highest national and international levels. Under Gretta’s leadership, the Basel Institute on Governance has moved into new areas including the illegal wildlife trade and other forms of environmental crime, where this holistic and integrated approach is already demonstrating solid results. Prior to joining the Basel Institute, Gretta worked at the OECD in Paris as the organisation’s manager for anti-corruption programmes in the Asia-Pacific region, where she played a key role in establishing the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific.
Sir Robert Wainwright is a Senior Partner of Deloitte. He leads board-level engagements with global clients in multiple sectors on cyber and financial crime and is a highly experienced security professional with a global profile and reputation. Between 2009 and 2018, Sir Rob was Executive Director of Europol. He has also held senior positions in other national law enforcement agencies in the UK. He is an active member of the World Economic Forum and holds various Board positions, including with the Global Fund to end Modern Slavery.
Sarah Runge currently serves as Global Head of Financial Crimes Compliance Regulatory Strategy at Credit Suisse. In this role, Sarah Runge works across the Financial Crime Compliance and Regulatory Affairs teams in Credit Suisse to develop a global plan to engage with and manage regulatory relationships related to Financial Crime Compliance. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Sarah spent over ten years in the US Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes developing domestic and international initiatives to address illicit finance through her work with supervisors, law enforcement, and policy makers in the US and globally. Her work included leading the US delegation to the Financial Action Task Force and representing the US Treasury Department at the G7, G20 and the Financial Stability Board
Che Sidanius is the Global Head of Financial Crime & Industry Affairs for Refinitiv. His previous experiences include working at Big Four consultancies within Capital Markets Advisory, as a Senior Advisor at the Bank of England, and as a Senior Examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the 2007-09 financial crisis.
Ibtissem Lassoued is Partner and Head of Advisory in the Regional Financial Crime practice at Al Tamimi & Company, based in Dubai. Ibtissem is an expert in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, global economic sanctions and anti-corruption. Ibtissem has been ranked as Band 1 in Chambers Global for Corporate Investigations for five consecutive years since the category’s inclusion and is commended for being ‘as passionate about her area of expertise as she is knowledgeable’ and ‘stunningly good at what she does’. She speaks globally on MENA financial crime matters and regularly produces insightful thought leadership and commentary. She was also included on the Financial News list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Middle East Finance in 2019.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Thibault Jacobs and Niamh Griffin
Contact: press@gcffc.org
