Anti-money Laundering Effectiveness Research Articles

Effectiveness of the UK AML System and Strategies for Improvement

As the cost of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance in the UK continues to rise, financial crime rates have not fallen. This study assesses the effectiveness of the UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) system and proposes strategies for improvement. The research examines the current legal framework, including the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (MLR2017), assessing their role in preventing and combating financial crime. Analyzing case studies and statistical data, the findings suggest that while the UK AML system has been effective in identifying and deterring money laundering, significant challenges remain. Insufficient sharing of information between agencies, uneven allocation of resources, and inconsistent regulatory enforcement hinder overall effectiveness. To address these shortcomings, the study makes several strategic recommendations: strengthening inter-agency cooperation, leveraging advanced technological solutions for data analysis and reporting, improving training and awareness programmes for financial institutions, and improving the legal framework to adapt to emerging threats. Implementing these recommendations could strengthen the UK’s anti-money laundering (AML) efforts, making them more robust and responsive to the evolving financial crime landscape. Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to the current debate on the effectiveness of AML and to make recommendations for improving the AML system’s response to the complexities of money laundering in order to strengthen the UK’s position in the global fight against money laundering.

The effect of institutionalization level on the relationship of corporate governance with money laundering activity: An example of the BIST Corporate Governance Index

The goal of this study is to analyze the impact of corporate governance (CG) principles on perceptions of anti-money-laundering effectiveness (AMLE) based on data obtained from financial institutions that are and are not included in the Borsa İstanbul (BIST) Corporate Governance Index (CGI). This study examines the relationship between CG and perceptions of AMLE through a survey of participants working at financial institutions, divided into two groups, conducted in April 2021. The results from testing the hypotheses show a significant relationship between CG and AMLE across multiple subdimensions. However, in terms of the perceptions of AMLE, it is not found a significant difference between financial institutions based on whether they are included in the BIST CGI.

The Effectiveness of Anti-Money Laundering / Counter Financing of Terrorism Requirements in Fund Management Companies

Anti-Money Laundering / Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) broadly encompasses regulatory requirements, acts and guidelines designed to curtail the practice of generating funds through unlawful or criminal activities. Several infringement notices were issued to market intermediaries due to provision breaches of the guidelines. Although policies and procedures have been tightened up to the level of satisfaction, assessing the effectiveness of AML/CFT legislation is still necessary. The main aim of the study is to examine the independent variables, namely competency level of compliance team members, regulatory compliance and quality of AML/CFT framework that influence the effectiveness of AML/CFTrequirements of the compliance officers that are working in FMCs in Malaysia. The Expectancy Theory has been applied to form the framework and to develop the hypotheses. Three hypotheses were developed and tested using the data from 70 samples of FMC's in Malaysia. The result of the study showed that there were significant relationships between the factors analysed in this study. This study will help the financial institutions especially the Fund Management Companies (FMCs) in understanding the factors that influence the effectiveness of AML/CFT requirements and taking necessary action to enhance their internal AML/CFT process and its compliance with the regulations. This would help the FMCs to have effective control of AML/CFT during the on-boarding and ongoing monitoring process.

Making sense of professional enablers\u2019 involvement in laundering organized crime proceeds and of their regulation

Money laundering has ascended the enforcement and criminological agenda in the course of this century, and has been accompanied by an increased focus on legal professionals as ‘enablers’ of crime. This article explores the dynamics of this enforcement, media and political agenda, and how the legal profession has responded in the UK and elsewhere, within the context of ignoring the difficulties of judging the effectiveness of anti money laundering. It concludes that legal responses are a function of their lobbying power, the determination of governments to clamp down on the toxic impacts of legal structures, and different legal cultures. However, it remains unclear what the effects on the levels and organization of serious crimes for gain are of controls on the professions.

An analysis of anti-money laundering in the German non-financial sector

European anti-money laundering (AML) law obliges both financial and non-financial private companies to contribute to combatting money laundering. Since the financial sector has implemented largely effective AML in the meantime, money launderers are increasingly moving their activities to the non-financial sector (non-FS). This study examines how AML obligations are implemented in the German non-FS. We intend to systemize different implementations of these obligations to provide a basis for improving future AML implementations, guidance, and research in the non-FS. The German setting is especially suited for this research, because its AML law is stricter than European AML law with respect to non-FS obligations, and because Germany has a large and interconnected economy. We use Grounded Theory to collect and analyze rich data from semi-structured interviews with 13 managers from eight multinational companies. Our result is a theory which systemizes the identified AML implementations. This helps explain how these various AML approaches emerge, and identifies ways in which the identified non-compliance and unaddressed AML risks can be mitigated. Another key observation is that guidance by the regulatory authorities is lacking. For both practice and regulators, the findings imply that the non-FS should follow a systematic AML process and that the regulatory authorities should support this approach through additional guidance. We also close some gaps in the literature, which has largely neglected the non-FS and rarely collected original data of actual AML implementation. The developed theory contributes to a better understanding of how AML effectiveness can be assessed and enhanced.

Counteracting Money Laundering as a Tool to Minimize the Shadow Economy

The subject of the research is the establishment of procedures for counteracting money laundering in order to minimize the level of the shadow economy. The relevance of the topic is determined by the following reasons. First, the money laundering risks any business may be subject to, affects the sustainable development of national economies. Second, the criminal income legalization activity is closely connected with the phenomena of capital outflow, corruption, use of offshore zones to conceal sources of income as well as tax evasion and illegal cashing of funds that are factors of the shadow economy. Third, at the end of 2018 in Russia, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is going to perform scheduled activities under the fourth round of audits related to assessment of anti-money laundering effectiveness. The purpose of the research was to analyze tools of countering the money laundering that can be used to minimize the level of the shadow economy based on the banking sector of Russia. A model for assessment of potential losses of credit institutions based on the VaR (Value at Risk) model is proposed.

Anti-money laundering effectiveness: assessing outcomes or ticking boxes?

PurposeThis article aims to constructively critique the new global methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-money laundering regimes against defined outcomes.Design/methodology/approachWith surprisingly little discussion at the intersection of the money laundering and policy effectiveness and outcomes scholarship and practice, this article combines elements of these disciplines and recent peer-review evaluations, to qualitatively assess the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) anti-money laundering “effectiveness” methodology.FindingsFATF’s “effectiveness” methodology does not yet reflect an outcome-oriented framework as it purports. Misapplication of outcome labels to outputs and activities miss an opportunity to evaluate outcomes, as the impact and effect of anti-money laundering policies.Practical implicationsIf the “outcomes” of the “effectiveness” framework do not match the crime and terrorism prevention policy goals of nation states, the new “main” component for assessing the effectiveness of anti-money laundering regimes potentially detracts focus and resources from, rather than towards, intended policy objectives.Originality/valueThere is a dearth of scholarship whether the global anti-money laundering “effectiveness” framework is sufficiently robust to assess effectiveness as it purports. This article begins addressing that gap.

Prevention of money laundering and the role of asset recovery

The purpose of this paper is to examine the increasing emphasis of the UK anti-money laundering (AML) legislative framework, on the financial arrangements of criminals. Our qualitative study engaged key stakeholders from the AML environment through a series of focus groups. This included law enforcement; accountants; prosecutors; bankers and, importantly, ex-offenders. We argue that the inclusion of the views of a traditionally hard to reach group of ex-offenders, adds significantly to knowledge and understanding about effectiveness of AML. The research findings suggest that, at first glance, the focus on asset recovery has been successful. However, our respondents shared with us areas of tension and inconsistencies in application of the law, in particular between police and the courts. For example, whether it was better to prosecute the predicate offence separately or in addition to the offence of money laundering; or whether to pursue criminal or civil recovery. We further find that criminals have been able to use their knowledge to circumvent the system, suggesting that greater effort is needed to promote cooperation, rather than competition, in successfully detecting and prosecuting offenders.

Addressing illicit financial flows in Africa

Purpose This paper aims to identify the underlying key components of illicit financial flows (IFFs) and highlights the priority areas where government resources should be pooled under a whole of government approach to mitigate the risks posed by IFFs. These areas are tax avoidance and tax evasion (specifically intra-company profit shifting, investment and profit shifting within the extractive sector, fraud and beneficial ownership), anti-corruption measures, governance and accountability measures, anti-money laundering effectiveness and effectiveness in the detection of falsified customs declarations. Design/methodology/approach The concept of IFFs is emerging as an umbrella term for bringing together seemingly disconnected issues. The concept is ill-defined, but there are various identifiable components supporting the term IFF such as capital flight, corruption, money laundering, tax avoidance, tax havens and transfer pricing practices. The author identifies the key areas of concern through a literature review and recommends prioritization of short- to medium-term risk areas and long-term policy imperatives. Findings In the short- to medium-term, an effective “whole-of-government” approach should be based on uniform risk identification and prioritization between mandated government agencies and in the long run, it should be focused on building responsive and effective institutions through a process of good governance and effective taxation. Originality/value A large body of literature deals with “IFFs” and the “whole-of-government approach” as separate concepts. This paper draws on the existing literature and identifies priority areas for addressing IFFs, and, for these to be successful, they are entirely dependent on a whole-of-government approach – both in the short and long run.