Vancouver Housing Market 'Vulnerable’ to Money Laundering

Recently, The Globe and Mail has learned that numerous real estate firms in the Vancouver area are failing to follow federal anti-money laundering laws which require real estate professionals to identify who their clients are and where their money comes from.

According to The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre also known as FINTRAC, there are significant or very significant deficiencies found within some five dozen B.C. real estate firms in the past year.

Spokesperson Darren Gibb stated that there were concerns being raised that those in the real estate sector were not complying with rules and fulfilling the obligations under the act. He also stated that the real estate industry is highly vulnerable to money laundering,

Federal examiners visited 80 real estate firms in the Vancouver region to analyze their procedures and paperwork. In 55 instances most involving real estate firms and some focusing just on individual real estate professionals, they discovered that the practices significantly lacking.

“The very significant deficiencies will lead to additional enforcement action and possibly penalties,” said Mr. Gibb. “We found a number of obligations that were not being respected.”

FINTRAC discovered that some real estate professionals failed to get proper ID from clients like drivers' licences or passports.

Reference: The Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/vancouver…/article29285770/