Major Russian money transfer network Unistream explains how it tackles money laundering

International Conference
Global Money Transfers
Institute of Directors
Pall Mall, London
17th/18th October 2005
Chairman
Rt Hon. Lord Lamont of Lerwick
Chancellor of Exchequer 2000-2003

Major Russian money transfer network Unistream Explains how it tackles money laundering

Unistream, the leading money transfer network in Russia and the CIS countries will explain how they deal with money laundering at the first major international conference on global money transfers which takes place in London on October 17th and 18th.

Unistream is backed with wide experience through 15,000 outlets in 90 countries. 90 banks are linked into the system.

Says the chairman Gagik Zakaryian, the major conference sponsor:”We are well aware that it is extremely important that our customers should have complete confidence in our services. Above all that we will not do any business with suspect or criminal financial deals. If anybody does try we then report them to the authorities.

“The Chairman of the conference, Lord Lamont, as former Chancellor of Exchequer, has always stood very firmly on this when in office. The reason he is presiding at the conference is his commitment to fight money laundering, and we join him on this.

“Money laundering can only destroy economies, but it is active world wide either by major criminal and terrorist operatives, or by their minions who send money through the informal hawala system.

“The hawala system may seem easy to use, but it is frequently abused as will be explained at the conference by journalist Nick Fielding who has undertaken a full study on this.

“The more regulation is set up to embrace all the small informal outlets, the tougher it will be for financial criminals to launder their money. This is a point we expect to be accepted by the senior finance ministers present at the conference from Russia, the UK and Algeria.

“It is for the same reason that William J Fox, the head of the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the Department of the Treasury is flying over from Washington to present a paper on this. He has established a reputation for rigorous handling of money laundering, and I know others will take note of what he says.

“Also present will be major international banks ranging from the Bank of China, ICICI Bank of India, European Central Bank to Credit Suisse among others. They too have told us that when trillions of dollars are being moved across the world, it is imperative to take a stand firm on money laundering. The conference will share experiences on how this is done in each bank and indeed country.

“The same can be said of other the leading money transfer networks such as Western Union and VISA.”

Unistream money transfer network is a financial product of Uniastrum, a rapidly rising Russian bank. According to Moody’s Interfax Rating Agency Uniastrum is experiencing,’extremely rapid growth…’ ‘Unistream has provided a significant part of the bank’s operating income.’

Contact Information

Lady Olga Maitland

Conference director

GCMT2005

Contact via E-mail