Anti Money Laundering / Combating Terrorism Financing

Explain how criminals hide proceeds of crime by laundering funds through assets, bank accounts, and proxies; examine methods, case studies, and the three stages of money laundering.

Explore the three stages of money laundering—placement, layering, and integration—and how illicit funds enter the financial system, obscure their origin through shell companies and cross-jurisdictional transfers, then reenter legitimate markets.

Explore the directional flow of funds in money laundering, including domestic money flow, inbound and outbound funds, and flow-through funds, and how proceeds of crime are integrated.

Explore the methods, techniques, mechanisms, and instruments used in money laundering, with examples like bank deposits, transfers, currency exchange, traveler’s checks, and commingling of funds.

Criminals and criminal enterprises act as core facilitators, coordinating process managers, money handlers, and family members across laundering stages. Third-party professionals, like lawyers and accountants, may aid by concealing identities.

Analyze the reputational, operational, legal, and concentration risks financial institutions face from money laundering, including regulatory fines, potential bank failures, and liquidity impacts.

Examine case studies on money laundering risks for financial institutions, including the Danske Bank and Wachovia schemes, to understand large illicit flows, whistleblower uncovering, and regulatory penalties.

Explore how corporate vehicles such as offshore and shell companies enable money laundering and terrorism financing, while illustrating a case study on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Explore offshore jurisdictions’ low taxation and bank secrecy, and how offshore companies raise money laundering and terrorism financing risks, with a forthcoming case study on offshore shell entities.

Explore shelf corporations and shell companies as corporate vehicles used to launder proceeds of crime or finance terrorism, highlighting benefits like saving time, proving longevity, and gaining access to credit.

Explore how shell corporations lack significant assets or operations and enable illicit financial activities. Analyze offshore shelf companies, tax havens, and bank secrecy to understand beneficial ownership and enforcement challenges.

Examine a case study from the Egmont compilation illustrating how foreign banks and gatekeepers use shell companies to conceal funds for organized crime and terrorism financing.

Analyze a case study of a politically exposed person using shell companies across tax havens to conceal corruption, aided by legal gatekeepers, with an exercise.

Define terrorism financing as the voluntary mobilization of funds to commit or support terrorist acts, illustrating the global economic impact, including billions in losses and the 9/11 cost example.

Explore the three stages of terrorism financing, fundraising, transfer, and use, covering sources of funds, movement through financial systems, and allocation for logistics, training, and propaganda.

Explore methods and techniques in terrorism financing, from legal donations and legitimate business funds to criminal activity and money laundering, and learn why detection by financial institutions varies.

Examine case studies on terrorism financing to identify red flags such as illicit charity exploitation, large cash deposits, debits to private accounts, and international transfers linked to terrorist networks.

Terrorism financing inflicts severe economic and human losses, destroying resources and infrastructure, diverting funds from productive activity to military needs, and triggering social disorder and investment withdrawals.

Examine the similarities and differences between money laundering and terrorism financing, including criminal funding sources, disguising funds, informal networks, transnational activity, and legitimate versus illicit sources in the financial system.

Explore how proliferation financing funds the transfer and export of weapons of mass destruction, guided by UN Security Council resolutions, FATF guidance, and dual-use goods.

Explore international conventions and standards shaping money laundering and terrorist financing safeguards, tracing their evolution from 1988 to 2017 and the role of the financial action task force.

Discover the FATF's mission in shaping anti money laundering and terrorist financing standards, from its 1990 inception and G7 roots to the 40 recommendations and nine special recommendations.

Outline the FATF 40 recommendations (2012, amended 2019) across parts a to g, covering email safety standards, money laundering, terrorist financing, due diligence, transparency, and international cooperation.

The FATF has 39 member countries and a wide global reach, supported by nine regional bodies promoting effective anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing recommendations.

Explore how financial institutions implement anti money laundering and combating terrorism financing measures through a risk-based aml cft program, customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence, transaction monitoring, and reporting.

Identify money laundering and terrorism financing risks by recognizing red flags and indicators of suspicious cash and non-cash transactions, including transfers and bearer instruments.

Implement the international FATF recommendations through a domesticated legal and policy framework that criminalizes money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation. Establish a financial intelligence unit and enhance beneficial ownership information.

Identify risks across customers, products, services, locations, and channels; assess likelihood and impact with risk scores; mitigate with enhanced or simplified due diligence; monitor for changes in behavior.

Apply the risk-based approach to identify, assess, mitigate, and monitor, focusing on what matters with proportional attention and enhanced due diligence for higher-risk customers.

Explore virtual assets and cryptocurrencies, including blockchain, wallets, and digital values, and understand how VASPs relate to AML/CFT expectations for payments, transfers, and investments.

Identify virtual asset service providers and explain how they act like banks, handling buying, selling, transferring, and safekeeping of virtual assets under AML CFT controls.

Explore how virtual assets enable fast, borderless transactions while posing anonymity, privacy tools, and regulatory gaps that challenge aml/cft controls; learn risk-based safeguards for criminals' misuse.

Even without direct crypto services, financial institutions face virtual asset risks through customers, partners, or correspondents; update risk assessments, enhance due diligence, and strengthen monitoring for crypto-related red flags.

Fatf recommendations now apply aml/cft standards to virtual asset service providers. They require due diligence, suspicious transaction reporting, record keeping, and the travel rule with a risk-based approach.