US data war on sex trafficking to reach Europe

By Lisa Anderson

LONDON, Nov 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Closer collaboration between financial institutions and New York City prosecutors is improving the chances of uncovering and convicting sex traffickers, according to Manhattan's top prosecutor, and a similar programme will be launched in Europe.

District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. said a partnership between institutions such as JPMorgan Chase (Swiss: JPM.SW - news) , Western Union and Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) and law enforcement to share data on client transactions was starting to pay dividends.

"I think we have stepped up our game," Vance told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A speaker at the opening of the foundation's third annual Trust Women conference on Tuesday, Vance said data, such as that produced by the initiative, has led to 22 ongoing sex trafficking investigations and contributed to several trials and convictions.

The success of the project, a joint initiative of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Vance's office, prompted the foundation to announce plans to launch a similar campaign in Europe next year.

"We need good, innovative ideas. Can data come to the rescue? The answer is yes," said Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO Monique Villa. "And data is used more and more to prosecute the slavers and make them pay for their crimes."

The expansion of the programme came as the latest global slavery index estimated 35.8 million people are living in slavery: born into servitude, trafficked for sex work, trapped in debt bondage, or exploited for forced labour.

The global slavery business is estimated to be worth $150 billion a year.

Vance's office first partnered with the Thomson Reuters Foundation in April 2013, assembling a working group of top financial institutions to explore how they could share technology and mine stores of client data to discern patterns indicative of human trafficking.

"I think that bringing us all together was critically instrumental in helping us move forward," said Vance.

The financial working group, which consulted with law enforcement and leading anti-trafficking NGOs, included JPMorgan (LSE: JPIU.L - news) Chase & Co., Western Union, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , Bank of America, Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) , TD Bank and Wells Fargo (Swiss: WFC.SW - news) .

In January 2014, the working group released a white paper offering guidance to financial institutions in how to identify customer traits and transaction patterns that may signal a higher risk of human trafficking for labour or sex.

These red flags include regular transfer of funds from employee accounts back to the employer's account, cross-border transfer of funds inconsistent with the stated business purpose of the client and recurrent business transactions taking place at odd hours and for suspiciously large amounts of money.

For example, experts said, a nail salon putting through a charge for $300 at 2 a.m. is probably providing more than a manicure/pedicure.

When financial institutions see such patterns they must file a report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Since the release of the white paper, Vance said, more banks are filing such reports and are working more proactively with the District Attorney's office. (Reporting by Lisa Anderson, Editing by Ros Russell)