AfDB and CoDA launch US$5.9 million project to address financial crime, money laundering and tax avoidance
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) have launched a three-year support project to improve regional coherent and coordinated responses to illicit financial flows (IFFs). The project aims to ensure that policies and practices are mobilised to address financial…
Banks drawn into reputational laundering networks to obscure illicit gains
Reputation launderers, notably public relations agencies and law firms, are distorting the financial crime and sanctions risk profiles of kleptocratic regimes and oligarchs seeking to launder and protect their illicit gains according to academic and investigative researchers. Banks can also be drawn into reputation laundering…
Financial crime specialists expect to benefit from Danske Bank’s trade finance collaboration with Conpend
Danske Bank has announced plans to digitise its trade finance processes through a collaboration with Conpend for use of its Trade AI app to automatically check against anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer (KYC) and sanctions regulations. Trade AI employs artificial intelligence and machine learning….
Financial crime trends guidance issued by accountants
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) have produced an instalment on financial crime trends for their Anti-Money Laundering: The Basics educational series. It looks at the trends in criminal activity that underpin money laundering operations and provides…
Interpol launches new centre focused on financial crime and corruption
Interpol has launched the Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) to provide a coordinated global response against what it describes as the exponential growth in transnational financial crime. The world police body says it will adopt a multi-agency approach, working closely with key stakeholders to…
Assessing the impact of Covid-19 on trade-based financial crime
In the two years since the first cases of Covid-19 were reported several experts and authorities have endeavoured to establish the impact of the pandemic on trade-based financial crime (TBFC). But while it is relatively easy to establish increased vulnerabilities in the supply chains fractured…
TBML not well understood, even by financial experts
The principal vulnerability to trade-based money laundering (TBML) in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is that it is not well understood, even by financial crime experts according to Global Financial Integrity (GFI). For its latest survey, Financial Crime in Latin America and…
Trade finance banks not doing enough to detect fraud and crime say UK regulators
British regulators have written an unusually blunt letter to the CEOs of the UK’s largest banks ordering them to conduct a full financial crime risk assessment of their processes to detect money laundering, sanctions evasion, terrorist financing and fraud among their clients. The Bank of…
GCFFC states its position on beneficial ownership transparency
All actors fighting financial crime should have instant access to high quality, highly usable beneficial ownership data according to the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime (GCFFC). In a newly published position paper, GCFFC states its views on beneficial ownership transparency and its objectives to…
Financial crime related to illegal wildlife trade to feature at September G7 meeting
Financial crime related to illegal wildlife trade will feature at the meeting of the G7’s interior and security ministers in September. Ensuring economic security is not undermined by the threat of serious and organised crime, including illicit threats to nature, such as the illegal wildlife trade,…
