Pakistan and China agree to a single electronic customs portal to fight TBML
Pakistan’s new national single window customs portal, which allows traders to submit and access all relevant documents relating to a trade via a single electronic gateway, is to integrate with its Chinese counterpart after the customs authorities in the two countries agreed to form a…
Analyse “long-concealed SWIFT data” to sanction Russian oligarchs says TJN
Analysis of “long-concealed SWIFT data” to detect where money has been rerouted to should be used in efforts by newly established task forces to sanction Russian oligarchs and companies according to the Tax Justice Network (TJN). It says efforts to sanction Russian entities have immediately…
Tough reporting obligations for art traders, but shell companies the root problem and art not a priority suggests US treasury report
Close outstanding gaps in the US anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, including those related to beneficial ownership and real estate, before focusing on the art trade the US treasury is told in a study examining money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing…
Crack down on TBML to battle the world’s kleptocrats says US senator
Action to prevent or stem trade-based money laundering (TBML) needs to be better coordinated to battle the world’s kleptocrats according to a comprehensive plan devised by a leading US senator. Sheldon Whitehouse has launched his plan in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which…
Freshly sanctioned Russian entities may turn to established TBML platforms and schemes
Sanctions imposed by western countries, Australia and Japan on Russian banks, oligarchs and other wealthy individuals in response to Moscow ordering troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine may prompt sanctioned individuals and entities to contemplate using trade-based money laundering (TBML) operations to channel funds….
Difficult to assess FinCEN’s beneficial ownership reporting proposals say US banks
The American Bankers Association (ABA) has responded to the proposal by the US treasury department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for revised rules on beneficial ownership information reporting requirements (Trade-based Financial Crime, 30 December 2020). The association says it supports the creation of the registry…
FinCEN seeks comments on modernisation of US AML/CFT regulatory regime
The US treasury department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a request for information (RFI) seeking comments on ways to streamline, modernise and update the country’s anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. As part of a formal review process, FinCEN says…
More information sharing and collaboration needed to combat TBML says major new US government report
Better information sharing and collaboration is needed to combat trade-based money laundering (TBML) according to a substantial report released on Monday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAOs). Countering Illicit Finance and Trade concluded that TBML is one of the primary mechanisms criminal organisations and…
Focus on trade in radically overhauled new US strategy for an international fight against corruption
The US will work with international partners as well as domestically to prevent, limit, and respond to corruption and related crimes in a significant overhaul of the way it targets public corruption that includes a clear focus on international trade according to a new plan…
TBML vulnerabilities catalogued in new report on financial crime in Kenya
An extensive new report examining financial crime in Kenya provides details of several trade-based money laundering (TBML) vulnerabilities in the country’s natural resources sectors. It also demonstrates how trade and Kenyan banks play a part in the country’s role facilitating illicit financial flows involving South…
