In order to ensure the highest level of legal monitoring and compliance, Eunomart made the right choice in teaming up with Solène Clément to oversee the development of the software we offer today...
President and founder of theObservatoire de la lutte anti blanchiment et contre le financement du terrorisme (OLAB) and Vice President of the Advisory Board of CARPA Paris, Solène is the reference in terms of LCB-FT applied to the art market. Since 2017, she has also provided support to various art market trade associations.
Can you give us a brief overview of LCB-FT?
Solène Clément: The various European directives on the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism require all art dealers to scrupulously assess the risks of each transaction. As part of these obligations of vigilance and reporting of suspicions, all those subject to the LCB-FT are required to try to detect the precursor signs of money laundering, including tax fraud and the financing of terrorism.
Penalties , professional sanctions and even reputational sanctions are provided for any establishment that fails to comply with this directive. The Commission Nationale des Sanctions (National Sanctions Commission) issues all these sanctions on a very regular basis, taking care to ensure that its decisions are published by name.
Are the texts that set up the LCB-FT within everyone's reach?
Solène Clément: Let's just say that if you've studied law for 5 years, it's almost accessible! In reality, it's not easy to understand or synthesize the 6,600 pages of legal texts that make up the LCB-FT regulations.
The main challenge is to make the requirements of the Monetary and Financial Code operational, and above all to ensure that they are properly applied on a day-to-day basis, without sacrificing other aspects of the business. Indeed, the obligations of vigilance and reporting suspicions were designed primarily for the banking sector, i.e. for large structures with substantial resources. These texts are hardly within the reach of smaller structures.
It was with this in mind that Violette Taquet, founder of Eunomart, decided to create a tool that would bring both compliance and peace of mind to art professionals, by providing them with a simple, fast and efficient process.
Why did you agree to work with Eunomart?
Solène Clément: First of all, my desire to help and my personal interest in the art market. The creation of this tool seemed to me to be the next logical step.
Clearly, we need to help professionals understand these complex legal texts, so that they can implement the required vigilance measures.
Professionals will then be able to concentrate on their core business, which is none other than the appreciation and promotion of works and the influence of artists.