MENA FCCG Holds 2nd Plenary Meeting of 2025
On November 18, 2025, MENA FCCG conducted its second Plenary Meeting of the year (virtual). Mr. Michael Matossian, Deputy Chair commenced the meeting commending members’ passion and commitment that have contributed to notable achievements over the past 12 months. The meeting provided members with an update on key 2025 deliverables including MENA FCCG’s Private Sector ABC Self-Assessment Tool. The Tool is an automated platform enabling private sector entities to independently evaluate on regular basis the strength and maturity of their ABC compliance programs against a standardized set of indicators, criteria, and global best practices. Fully free and accessible anytime via the MENA FCCG Website, the tool is comprised of 15 core assessment areas and 240 evaluation metrics. It will go live on MENA FCCG website http://menafccg.com/ early December 2025. MENA FCCG is also collaborating with the UNDP and will be attending the Second Global Conference on Harnessing Data to Improve Corruption Measurement, to be held from 2 to 4 December 2025 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The meeting was also attended by Chair of MENA FCCG’s Europe Chapter, Thomas Noone, Head of Compliance and MLRO, Europe Arab Bank who presented the 2026 plan for the Chapter including focusing on formulating best practice papers in the areas of fraud and scams / risk assessments, use of deposit aggregators, and deployment of technology tools for enhanced combating financial crime. The meeting also provided an update on the Combating Trade Based Financial Crime (CTBFC) Program brought by MENA FCCG in collaboration with the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime (GCFFC). Year 2025, witnessed the launch of Level II of the Certificate in Arabic language. MENA FCCG also attended the AUB Online at OSB Graduation Ceremony that took place at the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, Beirut, Lebanon to celebrate AUB graduates including the first set of CTBFC Certificate Graduates. Upon completion of Level II, participants are eligible to take the MENA FCCG – GCFFC endorsed Certification exam to earn the designation Certified TBFC Specialists. MENA FCCG will formally launch the registration for the CTBFC Certification Program in Q1 2026. The Certification allows participants to demonstrate mastery in the TBFC field, apply up-to-date tools and technical strategies, as well as connect with TBFC Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from MENA FCCG.
The meeting was attended by Hans-Peter Bauer, Senior Advisor, AML/CFT, Basel Institute on Governance and Kateryna Boguslavska, PhD Head, Financial Crime Risk, International Centre for Asset Recovery, Basel Institute on Governance who delivered a presentation on Basel AML Index 2025, latest trends, and regional profiles including a dive into the public and the expert editions of the Index with the latter offering insightful analysis based on FATF country assessments.
Members concluded the meeting with agreeing on the next in-person Plenary Meeting, scheduled to take place in May 2026 in Manama, Bahrain marking the 10th year anniversary of the group since its launch in Bahrain in 2016.
