The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) provides its partner banks with training on international standards in financial crime prevention.

• EBRD partner banks have lost a great number of correspondent banking relationships in the past few years, which is hindering international trade in the EBRD regions. Smaller banks are particularly dependent on such relationships so that they can offer payment and clearing services in foreign currencies.
• Many partner banks under the TFP find it increasingly difficult to obtain trade finance facilities from foreign commercial banks, partly because of the increased cost of compliance. The importance of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks and compliance grows every year as criminal and terrorist organisations become more and more sophisticated.
• It is crucial that multilateral development banks, such as the EBRD, step up their capacity-building activities to provide compliance training to local banks in their regions.