The number of suspicious transactions or those involving alleged money laundering increased by more than 60 percent in 2020, a report released by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) showed. The STR Quality Review report said suspicious transaction reports (STRs) last year surged to 1.01 million, up by 63 percent from the 623,000 in 2019. "The STR growth in these three industries alone contributed 237,352 STRs in 2020, which is greater than the 143,457 increase in STRs filed by universal and commercial banks. The combined increase of 380,809 STRs in these four industries already contributed 96 percent to the total 394,731 increase in 2020," the report said. The two predicate crimes (PC31 and PC32) and three suspicious indicators (SI1, SI3 and S16) accounted for 326,315 of the 394,731 increase in STRs.

Source: Manila Times May 21, 2021 16:18 UTC