Number of Suspicious Transaction Reports - Ireland 2000 to 2020

Source: 11/05/2021 https://fiu-ireland.ie/Home (see screenshots & link to report in blog)

Less than a week ago there was no readily accessible and publicly available data (in one spot) for historic figures on the number of money laundering suspicious transaction reports in Ireland.  To assist my GRC network which ask me regularly about such data, I put out a few posts on Linkedin, including this one - https://bit.ly/3o8JvCt.  I received some responses and comments politely querying the accuracy of my figures.  In reply I posted the underlying sources, being the Garda (Irish Police) / FIU Ireland and Financial Action task force.  At the time, the only available data for 2020 was by journalist Conor Lally, at the Irish Times in his article of  4 May 2021.

Jump forward to today (or perhaps it was yesterday as there is no date), the Financial Intelligence Unit in Ireland published the above image and a three (3) page report providing details on STRs Received (2000-2020).  If you visit that site and the data does not appear, no problem, I have uploaded the file here.

https://fiu-ireland.ie/Home

FIU Ireland STR Report 2000-2020

​I am glad to see that my data and that of the FIU matches for the years 2000, 2001, 2003 & 2004. For 2002 I have 4,390 v FIU figure of 4,397 and in for 2005 I have 10,735 v FIU figure of 9,698 (hardly material). Still I find this strange as my figures were sourced from Garda & FATF reports at the time.   When I published the 2020 figure of 28,865, that was based on the above Irish Times article which was published at least 10 days before the FIU publication which reported 29,631 (2.5% difference - or a rounding error!).

Thanks to Steven Meighan for his LinkedIN post yesterday (11 May 2021) and previous engagement on money laundering STRs.

A good thing about Linkedin is that it gets people engaged & often leads to great outcomes, like the publishing by the FIU / Garda of such comprehensive data for the first time in one consolidated document and easily accessible.

We all now have an agreed historical set of facts and figures, and given it is published by FIU Ireland, it's official data.

Other areas of the FIU release which caught my eye are:

• FIU Ireland is a police-based FIU located within the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB). It was put on a statutory footing in 2018 with the enactment of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018. It is headed by Detective Chief Superintendent, GNECB, and staffed by employees of An Garda Síochána; however, it has its autonomy and operational independence in carrying out its functions, thus enhancing the FIU’s compliance with FATF’s Recommendation 29. 
• Staff at the FIU contribute to the development of National and European policy and also sit on the Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee (AMLSC) and represent Ireland at various international fora including the EU, FATF and Egmont Plenaries, EU FIU Platform meetings, etc. FIU Ireland is the central reception point for all Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) from ‘Designated Persons’ under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 to 2021. It is important to note that the Revenue Commissioners also receive a copy of every STR submitted as there is a system of dual-reporting in Ireland. 

• FIU Ireland uses specialised software (GoAML) to meet its data collection, management, analytical, document management, workflow and statistical needs.