Tracking funding is a critical part of the fight against terrorism and as the threat has escalated, so has the development of financial intelligence units (FIUs) designed to investigate suspicious transactions. Terrorist Financing, Money Laundering, and Tax Evasion: Examining the Performance of Financial Intelligence Units provides a thorough analy

During the last few decades, corrupt financial practices were increasingly being monitored in many countries around the globe. The past few decades have been eventful for these issues. Today, tackling money laundering and terrorism financing are considered key issues in developed and developing countries alike. Eradication of money laundering and terrorism financing through a holistic approach of awareness, prevention, and enforcement is a current need. It has enabled the birth of new regulatory regimes based on strict compliance, robust processes, and technology. One of the many problems with this is the lack of general awareness about all these issues among various stakeholders including researchers and practitioners. Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing in Global Financial Systems deepens the discourse about money laundering, terrorism financing, and risk management in a modern-day environment. It provides a fascinating and invaluable guide for understanding the theory, practice, and cases of these topics. Split into two sections, the first being money laundering and terrorism financing and the second being financial governance and risk management, the chapters create comprehensive knowledge on these acts of crime in the financial industry by defining the crimes themselves, the many challenges and impacts, and potential solutions. This book is ideal for government officials, financial professionals, policymakers, academicians, business professionals, managers, IT specialists, researchers, and students.

Efforts to launder money and finance terrorism have been evolving rapidly in recent years in response to heightened countermeasures. The international community has witnessed the use of increasingly sophisticated methods to move illicit funds through financial systems across the globe and has acknowledged the need for improved multilateral cooperation to fight these criminal activities. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have developed this guide to help countries understand the new international standards. It will hopefully serve as a comprehensive source of practical information for countries to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. It discusses the problems caused by these crimes, the specific actions countries need to take to address them, and the role international organizations, such as the Bank and the IMF, play in the process. This guide is a tool for countries to establish and improve their legal and institutional frameworks and their preventive measures according to international standards and best practices. -- From Foreword (p. ix).

The purpose of this handbook is to raise the awareness level of tax examiners and auditors on money laundering. It provides guidance in identifying money laundering during the conduct of normal tax audits. It also describes the resources and tools ...

Although the practice of disguising the illicit origins of money dates back thousands of years, the concept of money laundering as a multidisciplinary topic with social, economic, political and regulatory implications has only gained prominence since the 1980s. This groundbreaking volume offers original, state-of-the-art research on the current money laundering debate and provides insightful predictions and recommendations for future developments in the field. The contributors to this volume academics, practitioners and government representatives from around the world offer a number of unique perspectives on different aspects of money laundering. Topics discussed include the history of money laundering, the scale of the problem, the different types of money laundering, the cost to the private sector, and the effectiveness of anti-money laundering policies and legislation. The book concludes with a detailed and insightful synthesis of the problem and recommendations for additional steps to be taken in the future. Students, professors and practitioners working in economics, banking, finance and law will find this volume a comprehensive and invaluable resource.

"Money laundering and terrorist financing are serious crimes that affect not only those persons directly involved, but the economy as a whole. According to international standards, every bank has the obligation to know its customers and to report suspicious transactions. Although these obligations sound straightforward, they have proved challenging to implement. What information precisely has to be gathered? How should it be recorded? If and when does one have to file a suspicious transaction report? It is here that a supervisor can play a crucial role in helping supervised institutions; first, in understanding the full extent of the obligations of Customer Due Diligence and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) and, second, in ensuring that those obligations are not just words on paper but are applied in practice. Effective supervision is key to the success of a country's AML/CFT system. In this regard, field work in both developed and developing countries has shown an overall low compliance in the area of supervision of banks and other financial institutions; supervisory compliance is indeed generally lower than the average level of compliance with all Financial Action Task Force recommendations. As a result, by providing examples of good practices, this book aims to help countries better conform to international standards. In this regard, this handbook is specifically designed for bank supervisors.