The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) of Canada has published the attached "Warning Notice" (Issue No. 81), which is based on an information bulletin issued by the Governor of the Banque central des Comores (BCC) (the central bank of the Union des Comores) concerning illegal offshore activities exercised by unofficial organizations acting as banks, financial services companies and other financial institutions of the island of Anjouan. The BCC notes that all matters concerning banks and other financial institutions fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Government of the Union des Comores, and not of any political subdivision. An English language translation of the information bulletin is attached to the Canadian Warning Notice.

Financial institutions should exercise appropriate due diligence in any dealings they may have, directly or indirectly, with entities appearing to be incorporated by the Anjouan authorities. Furthermore, the BCC requests that the international financial community provide it with any information on attempted offshore operations. The contact information for BCC is included in an attachment to the Canadian Warning Notice.

A cumulative list of entities on previous Warning Circulars, Notices or Advisories is available on OSFI's Web site at: http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/osfi/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=166.

Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents, and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4004, Washington, D.C. 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

Questions related to federal deposit insurance or consumer issues should be submitted to the FDIC using an online form that can be accessed at http://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp.

For your reference, FDIC Special Alerts may be accessed from the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2008/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Attachment: Can be found at
http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/app/DocRepository/1/eng/consumer/notices/Warning_Notice_81_e.pdf 414K (PDF Help)

Distribution: FDIC-Supervised Banks (Commercial and Savings)

Note: Paper copies of FDIC Special Alerts may be obtained through the FDIC's Public Information Center, 1-877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200).