Chile sees spike in suspected laundering transactions

The number of financial transactions suspected of money laundering in Chile rose 69.1% year-on-year in the January-September period to 2,356, according to the local money laundering watchdog (UAF).

The suspicious transactions were already up approximately 26% compared with full-year 2014.

The strong increase is due to the growing number of private and public sector companies, institutions and individuals that have to report these transactions to UAF, as well as a growing awareness in Chile of the need to fight money laundering, said UAF director Javier Cruz in a release.

The number of companies, institutions and individuals reporting to UAF increased to 6,300 at the end of September from 5,240 a year ago.

Private pension fund managers, or AFPs, registered the biggest number of the transactions in January-September with 594, followed by banks (549) and money transfer firms (393).

During the first nine months the UAF initiated 188 legal cases linked to money laundering, according to the release.

Last year saw 17 people convicted of money laundering operations in Chile and 50% of the cases were linked to drug trafficking.