Soft Launch of the GoFintel Software
The Director of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center, Mr. Mauro Miedico met with the Head of the Netherlands Financial Unit (FIU-NL), Ms. Hennie Verbeek-Kusters and her Deputy, Mr. Robbert Springorum in New York, on 25 June.
Mr. Miedico thanked the Netherlands for the in-kind and financial contributions for the development and deployment of the United Nations goFintel Software as part of the Netherlands FIU’s digital transformation journey. They also discussed the next milestones of the implementation of the software, developed to enhance Member States’ financial analysis capacities to counter serious crime and terrorism financing.
He also congratulated the FIU-NL for being the first country to deploy the goFintel software. This announcement was made earlier in the day on the occasion of a presentation by FIU-NL to counter-terrorism focal points and police advisors from interested Member States. The event was organized by the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the United Nations in New York, USA. goFintel was also presented to the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) during its Plenary session in Paris on 2-7 June 2024.
About goFintel
The activities of criminal and terrorist organizations have devastating effects around the world, denying them access to funding and financial services is therefore a critical component of the international response aimed at dismantling them.
By leveraging the power of emerging technologies, domestic coordination, and international cooperation, goFintel provides Member States and their Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) with a range of features that enable them to identify and investigate suspicious financial activity, while upholding human rights. goFintel is a modular framework that can be integrated alongside a Member State’s existing application. Current features include data ingestion, data consolidation, automated screening, strategic analysis queries, an intuitive analytics tool and audit logging.
The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) has spearheaded the development of goFintel through its Global Programme on Countering the Financing of Terrorism in partnership with FIU-NL, and the United Nations Office of Information and Communication Technology (UNOICT), while coordinating closely with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), that supports Member States with the goAML tool.
Collaboration with goAML
Earlier this year, the Under-Secretary-General of UNOCT, Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, and the Executive Director of UNODC, Ms. Ghada Fathi Waly, signed a Letter of Intent formalizing a cooperation agreement between the new goFintel and the well-established goAML software, developed and maintained by UNODC. This Letter formalizes the co-existence of the two softwares that are offered to Members States in the field of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
At the above-mentioned Egmont meeting, UNODC briefed participants about this collaboration, noting that the teams of goAML, which is recommended as an all-encompassing tool for AML/CFT for FIUs, and of goFintel will collaborate in a close partnership.
goFintel can be connected to goAML, so FIUs can have both at the same time and can also be connected to an FIU’s existing data sources and can work with or without goAML. The partnership between UNOCT and UNODC aims to leverage the strengths of both goFintel and goAML, ensuring that Member States benefit from their combined capabilities while maintaining clear governance and communication protocols. The goAML and goFintel teams collaborate on their roadmaps and services to ensure a coherent engagement with Member States.
Human Rights considerations
UNCCT is prioritizing a Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP) review of the roll-out of goFintel to Member States to ensure compliance with international human rights law and norms, through a consultative process that will include engagement with civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders.
