Financial content of money laundering concept: literature review

Abstract

The article presents the review of scientific publications on combating money laundering (AML). The subject of the study is economic phenomena and processes that reveal the role of financial sector in AML. The purpose of the article is to provide scientific arguments for and against the encumbrance of financial organizations with anti-money laundering measures, to identify the research gaps in publications and to focus on their solution. Methodology and approach: database of e-library, ResearchGate, Academia conducted a systematic review of publications on AML with an emphasis on the specific features of various financial and non-financial institutions. The study identifies their main topics, such as the main resource of shadow economy, money laundering schemes, ML landscape, the role of banks in ML. The author provides an in-depth analysis of the publications indicated in the links of the selected articles as well as the gaps in research that should be studied in future. The paper reveals a promising direction of research, due to the lack of scientific publications on the problem of administering adequate punishment from regulatory authorities to individuals and banks for non-compliance with anti-money laundering norms, allowing to maintain a balance between the severity of punishment (in order to prevent future violations) and maintaining the stability of business processes in banks (in order to strengthen banking system reputation).