International cooperation

Criminals try to obscure the provenance of the proceeds of their crimes. The concealment of the proceeds of drug trafficking or related payments, for instance, tends to occur in the countries where the drugs are produced, transported, and consumed. The proceeds of these crimes, on the other hand, are subsequently spent in countries with a mild (or milder) supervisory climate. This means that money laundering and terrorist financing can only be effectively tackled through joint efforts at the national and international level.

FIU-the Netherlands deliberately invests in maintaining and expanding international cooperation with its partners, not only in the area of the operational exchange of data, but also with regard to passing on and exchanging knowledge and experience. FIU-the Netherlands is an active member of international bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering (FATF), the Egmont Group, FIU.NET, and the FIU Platform within the European Union. In addition, FIU-the Netherlands has bilateral cooperation agreements with FIUs and criminal investigation bodies worldwide.

Cooperation between regions
Besides cooperating with international partners, FIU-the Netherlands works closely together with the other parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Curacao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. As of 10 October 2010, Curacao and Sint Maarten acquired autonomous status, similar to the status already enjoyed by Aruba; the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (known collectively as the BES islands) became part of the Netherlands and are now known as the Caribbean Netherlands. Service providers on the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands are required to report unusual transactions to FIU-the Netherlands.