Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada

FINTRAC receives information from regulated entities on: • Suspicious transactions • Suspected terrorist property • Large cash transactions • Outgoing or Incoming International Electronic funds transfer over $10,000 CAD within a 24-hour period • Cross border currency reporting In 2009, FINTRAC estimated that the amount of money laundered on an annual basis is somewhere between $5 and $15 billion. FINTRAC publishes annual results, quarterly updates, performance reports, and notices. FINTRAC analyzes approximately 19 million transactions per year. In 2017, FINTRAC made 2,000 disclosures to police forces. According to FINTRAC, reporting on money laundering related to trafficking went up 750% after the special project began. • Project CHAMELEON, led by HSBC and established in 2017, seeks to protect victims of romance fraud. • Project GUARDIAN, started in February 2018 with the help of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, tracks the movement of opioids and fentanyl. • Project ATHENA is an operation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police focused on the movement of money through casinos and underground banking that launched in 2019. • Project SHADOW, a joint effort with Scotiabank that began in December 2020, is designed to prevent child sexual exploitation. • Project LEGION kicked off in 2022 in partnership with Toronto-Dominion Bank and highlights money laundering efforts tied into the sale of cannabis. • Project ANTON, a 2023 international endeavor named in honor of Anton Mzimba, brings attention to the illicit wildlife trade. • Project DOLUS is focused on money laundering disguised through online gambling. The U.S. corollary to FINTRAC, FinCEN, has also joined in on projects PROTECT, GUARDIAN, SHADOW, and ANTON. ==Directors==

The Director is appointed by the Governor-in-Council for a term of not more than five years during the pleasure of the Governor General and on the expiry of a first or subsequent term of office but no person shall hold office as Director for terms of more than ten years in the aggregate. • Sarah Paquet, November 18, 2020 • Nada Semaan, March 5, 2018 • Gérald Cossette, October 15, 2012 – October 17, 2017 • Jeanne M. Flemming, March 3, 2008 – 2012 • Keith Fernandez, acting director, 2007 - 2008 • Horst Intscher, 2000 - 2007 ==Reports==

Most FINTRAC reports can be submitted electronically or in paper. For electronic submissions, reporting entities must be enrolled in FINTRAC's electronic reporting system and can use either FINTRAC's web form or a batch report, which enables the submission of several reports at once using a public key certificate. The following activities are to be filed in reports to FINTRAC: • Suspicious transactions • Large cash transactions • Large virtual currency transactions • Electronic funds transfers • Terrorist property • Alternative to large cash transaction reports FINTRAC can also receive the following information: • Cross-border currency or monetary instruments reports • Voluntary Information ==Oversight==

FINTRAC reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Finance. Section 72(2) of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act also mandates audits of FINTRAC by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada every two years. Since 2019 its national security and intelligence activities are subject to oversight by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. ==Criticism==

In 2009, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada reported that FINTRAC was receiving and retaining personal information beyond its remit, in breach of the Privacy Act, and that this "presents an unquestionable risk to privacy by making available for use or disclosure personal information which should never have been obtained." ==See also==