MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORIST FINANCING LEGISLATION / FINTRAC COMPLIANCE

Our firm supports reporting entities subject to the FINTRAC compliance regime — including many real estate agencies — with any matter relating to their compliance obligations.

Meeting the obligations set out in the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (the Money Laundering Act) and its regulations is often a constant source of concern for most of the businesses subject to it. In the event of a breach, they expose themselves in particular to the administrative and criminal penalties that may be imposed by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), the regulatory authority in this area.

DUBÉ LATREILLE can make this task easier with a range of services designed to help you achieve and maintain the compliance objectives set out in the legislation.

Our services include implementing continually updated FINTRAC compliance programs, their biennial review, OACIQ-accredited training eligible for CEUs, and a specialized legal newsletter published each quarter. Depending on your needs, we also support compliance officers and organizations with their self-assessments, their preparation for an audit, and the strengthening of their internal practices.

When your organization is the subject of an unfavourable decision from FINTRAC, we can step in to try to mitigate its consequences — notably by negotiating the amount of a penalty, the payment terms, or, when the situation requires, by challenging the legality of the decision before the Federal Court.

The compliance services we offer are as follows:

1) Development of a FINTRAC compliance program:

After identifying the main characteristics of your organization, we prepare a compliance program comprising an internal framework, tools, and reference documents intended for your compliance officer, your management, and, where applicable, your operational teams. During this process, we meet with the responsible individuals to review the ML/TF mechanisms already in place and to carry out an overall risk assessment. Once these steps are completed, we are able to propose a complete, compliant program tailored to the reality of your activities.

2) Review of the FINTRAC compliance program:

Every two years, your organization must review its compliance program to ensure it reflects the evolution of its activities, legislative and regulatory changes, new ministerial directives, and FINTRAC's expectations. We carry out this biennial review in a structured way in order to update your documentation, correct any gaps identified, and better prepare you for a possible audit or inspection.

3) Annual FINTRAC training:

Compliance also depends on a concrete understanding of the applicable obligations and on maintaining sound reflexes within the organization. Well-designed training reinforces the vigilance of directors, managers, employees, and compliance officers, while supporting the establishment of a lasting internal ML/TF culture.

DUBÉ LATREILLE offers several training sessions, virtual or in person, some of which are accredited by the OACIQ and eligible for CEUs. Among them, one covers the fundamental obligations set out in the legislation and the best practices to adopt day to day, while another focuses on the errors most frequently identified by FINTRAC auditors and on concrete ways to prevent them. We also offer other training tailored to the reality, maturity level, and particular needs of your organization, in order to effectively support your continuing-education program.

4) FINTRAC newsletter:

Four times a year, DUBÉ LATREILLE publishes a specialized newsletter ("Altimax") to recall best practices, cover relevant news, present new ministerial orientations or directives, track FINTRAC trends, and revisit the various obligations that make up an effective compliance program. This publication concretely supports the work of compliance officers and helps maintain a high level of vigilance within the organization.

5) Other legal services:

We also assist compliance officers and organizations in connection with self-assessments, internal reviews, and audits conducted by FINTRAC. In the event of an unfavourable decision, we can step in to negotiate certain aspects of the penalty, request its review or, depending on the context, challenge its legality before the Federal Court.

DUBÉ LATREILLE supports many real estate agencies, as well as other reporting entities subject to the legislation, in order to ease their compliance burden and help them meet FINTRAC's requirements with rigour, efficiency, and confidence.