Real Estate Dealers to be Trained to Use Reporting Portal

The Real Estate Board (REB) will be launching a series of hands-on sessions to train real estate dealers to use the new web-based reporting portal known as ‘goAML’.

The goAML will systematise the number of reports real estate dealers are required to submit as a part of international anti-money laundering/counterterrorism procedures.

“We are aware that some may find the training and reporting process a little challenging, but it is worth reminding that these are mandatory international protocols that help to protect the integrity of the industry, individual dealers, and the country in general,” Chief Executive Officer of the Real Estate Board and Strata Corporation, Sandra Garrick, told JIS News.

The goAML intelligence analysis system was developed by the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime (UNODC) to assist the financial intelligence units (FIUs) of member states. The system was explicitly designed to serve the data collection, management and analysis needs of these FIUs.

In accordance with the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the Real Estate Board is designated to monitor compliance of the Act among real estate dealers that are considered ‘Designated Non-Financial Institutions’.

“We are in fact mandated as a government body to make sure everyone is suitably trained to use the system,” Mrs. Garrick said.

She noted that proficiency in the software will also facilitate the speedier exchange of data between the Financial Investigations Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and law enforcement.

“Among the reports that will be submitted on goAML are the Authorised Disclosures (Requests for Consent), Nil Reports, Suspicious Transaction Reports, and the Threshold Transaction Reports,” Mrs. Garrick said.

Speaking at the launch of the goAML portal in October last year, then Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, said the goAML software would allow for better data mining to assess major money-laundering trends.

Mrs. Williams also expressed that the software would help the Financial Investigations Division (FID) to assess and sift through the more than 300,000 suspicious transaction reports made annually.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrick is urging real estate dealers to support this move by the Government and sensitise themselves with the system through participating in training.

Training sessions will be held in Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay and participants will be required to take along a laptop.

Dates of the sessions, along with details about cost and registration will be made available via the REB’s social media pages and published in the media. Dealers can contact the REB for further details.