In recent decades, the international community has made a concerted effort to develop the international Anti-Money Laundering Standards (AMLSs) and enhance their implementation at a national level. It is submitted that the AMLSs serve various laudable aims and States should adequately implement those standards. In fact, most States, including Vietnam, have been striving for the highest level of compliance with the AMLSs. This thesis suggests that external pressure and State socialization has compelled developing States to implement and comply with the international AMLSs, and Vietnam is an obvious case study. This thesis examines concisely the development and underlying rationales of a number of key categories of international AMLSs, and the difference in national implementation of each category. The implementation of such multifaceted standards in a transitional State, like Vietnam, requires substantial legal and administrative reform, which often faces numerous domestic hurdles. The examination of Vietnamese AML legislation has revealed that while significant deficiencies remain, certain categories of AMLSs have been transformed wholesale into Vietnamese law. As a part of the objectives of this study, suggestions for law reform have been made to close the gaps between the AML laws of Vietnam and the international standards. It is likely that Vietnam, within a short time, will revise the laws in order to obtain a better degree of compliance. However, given the political, economic and legal factors of Vietnam, this thesis argues that the enforcement of the laws in practice will be still limited. In other words, in the near future Vietnam can achieve what appears to be a high level of compliance with the international AMLSs, but only on paper.

The purpose of this mini-dissertation is to analyse and establish the potential money laundering and terrorism financing risks and implications of virtual currencies on the prevalent South African regulatory and supervisory architecture. The South African financial system is exceedingly regulated and supervised to ensure that it is prudent and reputable, and to enhance the safety and soundness thereof. Recently, technological innovations and developments have created immense issues especially from a financial regulatory and supervisory perspective. Financial technology has produced mysterious phenomena such as blockchain, insuretech, crowdfunding and virtual currencies. Presently, virtual currencies, which will be the focus of this study, do not fall within the ambits of the South African financial regulatory or supervisory regime and have thus created a regulatory arbitrage. This poses a significant number of risks and implications to the South African context, namely tax evasion; crossborder illicit flow of funds; contravention of exchange control regulations; financial instability; monetary policy uncertainty; inaccurate economic statistics; non-reporting of balance of payment requirements; and money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF). The study aims to construct a clear description and categorisation of virtual currencies within a South African context. Secondly, the study will set out the risks and implications that virtual currencies pose to the South African financial system from a ML/TF perspective. Finally, the study will present a possible solution to close the current regulatory arbitrage presented by virtual currencies in the South African financial sector. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Mercantile Law / LLM Banking Law / Unrestricted

Implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) goes beyond a technological modification to automate the identification of US clients and report their information to the IRS. FATCA implementation requires foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to learn the new requirements, to modify their organizational structures and their employees’ relationships and responsibilities, and to adjust the technology that helps the employees collect new FATCA-related information and to process that information so that it can be reported to the IRS in the correct format. In spite of that, research on FATCA implementation has focused on studying each constituent separately. However, according to the information systems (IS) body of research and from a systems thinking perspective, the whole (the bank that is complying with FATCA as a system) is more than the sum of its parts (the information, technology, and social structures that it includes). For this reason, this dissertation argues that in order to achieve an effective FATCA implementation and reduce tax evasion activity, FATCA implementation should be studied from an IS perspective. This will assist in appreciating the complexity of FATCA implementation and compliance and will help practitioners to better anticipate future uncertainties. The dissertation uses actor-network theory (ANT), as it is a socio-technical theory, to investigate the implementation of and compliance with FATCA in a Jordanian local bank. Our interpretation revealed a number of problems in the bank’s compliance initiative; among them were the issues of overlooking technology, information, and the bank’s customers as actors with interests of their own. Accordingly, we provide eight propositions that can enhance the effectiveness of FATCA compliance. Tax-evasion has been shown in the literature to be a predicate crime involving money laundering (ML), i.e., a crime that generates proceeds that need to be treated in secretive ways so that they can be falsely legitimized. We argue in this dissertation that the findings of our case study could provide lessons for the anti-money-laundering (AML) domain in relation to its structurally coupled domain of ML. Thus, we presented some lessons that can be tested in the ML/AML domains.

Magister Legum - LLM / This paper discusses the progress of international anti-money laundering (AML) law with regard to making tax evasion a predicate offence for the crime of money laundering (ML). This paper will focus particularly on the recent amendments that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) made to its 40 + 9 Recommendations. The FATF Recommendations are recognised as the global AML standards. The amendments to these have resulted in tax crimes being made designated offences for ML. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the rationale behind this change and to assess the implications of bringing fiscal crimes under the AML regime.

Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / Annually, money laundering costs global financial markets $2.5 trillion. Money laundering is especially problematic in that it results in a plethora of socioeconomic problems including poor economic performance and an upsurge in crime. In fact, predicate crimes such as corruption, drug trafficking, tax evasion, smuggling, fraud, and terrorism are so embedded within money laundering so much so that combatting either is a complicated task. Although it is a daunting endeavour, best practice teaches that multilateral and international cooperation are most effective at fighting money laundering. For that reason, establishing locally sensitive and yet internationally focussed anti-money laundering regimes is a priority for numerous countries.

During the last decade governments and international organizations have taken multipleactions to combat money laundering. Despite this, anti-money laundering policies have haddubious effects. This paper investigates efforts to combat money laundering from theFoucauldian ideas of governmentality. By investigating Sweden’s efforts to fight moneylaundering the paper sheds light on the different problematizations, rationalities, identityformations, techniques, and mechanisms that can be found in Sweden’s anti-moneylaundering regime. By focusing on the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, the CountyAdministrative Board and private actors this paper provides insights into how the regimegoverns through knowledge-based technologies of government and risk-based rationality.

De senaste åren har Finansinspektionen rapporterat nya fall kring penningtvätt där etablerade storbanker har stått i rampljuset i negativ bemärkelse. Rapporterade fall av penningtvätt ökar årligen inom Sverige och detta kan betyda att det finns brister inom det förebyggande arbetet mot penningtvätt eller att banker bland annat, har blivit bättre på att upptäcka penningtvätt. Banker och Finansinspektionen befinner sig på frontlinjen för vårt finansiella system och därför är det väsentligt att dessa aktörer innehar verktyg och metoder för att förhindra penningtvätt som utgör ett hot mot det finansiella system och den allmänna demokratin. Årligen rapporterar Finanspolisen att det tvättas ca 130 miljarder kr inom den svenska ekonomin och att de nuvarande trenderna dessvärre inte pekar på en nedgång. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till en ökad förståelse kring hur banker arbetar i förebyggande syfte mot penningtvätt och hur de samspelar med Finansinspektionen för att få bukt med denna brottslighet. För att samla in datamaterialet genomfördes totalt sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med anställda från tre storbanker inom Sverige och en intervju med en anställd från Finansinspektionen. Det empiriska resultatet tydliggjorde att bankerna förlitar sig mycket på användningen av interna verktyg som kundkännedom - KYC och att kundkännedom är ett omfattande verktyg som innefattar ett flertal sekretessbelagda element som alla har ett identiskt syfte, att kartlägga och identifiera risker. Slutsatserna visar att det sker ett omfattande arbete i förebyggande syfte mot penningtvätt där banker årligen avsätter miljontals kronor för att göra ett gediget arbete. Det riskbaserade förhållningssättet till regelverken innebär att det fortfarande lämnas utrymme för banker att förbättra sina interna processer i det förebyggande arbetet mot penningtvätt, trots det faktum att det finns en medvetenhet om att brottslingarna ligger steget före. Samtidigt kan detta kompenseras av mer vägledning i de föreskrifter som ges av Finansinspektionen. En annan väsentlig slutsats vi har kommit fram till är att samspelet med Finansinspektionen inte alls fungerar på samma sätt som Finansinspektionen förmedlar att det gör. Den viktigaste delen av detta samarbete gick ut på att tillföra varandra med nya rapporter och föreskrifter, inte att samspela med andra aktörer för att få bukt med penningtvätt. / In the last couple of years, The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority have reported new cases of money laundering where established major banks have been in the limelight in a negative sense. Reported cases of money laundering are increasing annually in Sweden, which indicates that there are shortcomings in the preventive work against money laundering or that banks are better at finding money laundering cases. Banks and The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority are at the forefront of the preventive work against money laundering and therefore it is essential that these organizations possess tools and methods to prevent the emergence of money laundering and identify risks that pose a threat to our financial system and thus to the general democracy. Annually, The Financial Police reports that about SEK 130 billion is laundered in the Swedish economy and that the current trends unfortunately do not point to a decline. The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased understanding of how banks work in preventive purpose against money laundering. As well as how banks interact with The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority to overcome money laundering. In order to collect the data, a total of six semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees from three established banks within Sweden and one from The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. The conclusions show that a great deal of work is done in a preventive purpose against money laundering where banks allocate millions of SEK every year to do a solid job. Banks rely heavily on the use of internal tools such as know your customer and internal regulations which is a tool that can be used to get customer awareness. But in practice, the riskbased approach to the regulations means that banks still need to improve their internal processes in the preventive work despite the fact that criminals are considered to be one step ahead. At the same time, this can be offset by more guidance in the regulations that the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has as a task, to make sure that the banks are following the rules in the market. Another significant conclusion we have reached in the study is that the interaction with The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority does not work at all in the same way that The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority mediates that it does. The most important part of this collaboration was to provide each other with new reports and regulations, and not to interact with other organization such as banks to overcome money laundering.

The dilemma of money laundering is an undeniable problem faced by many institutions all over the world. Due to its prevalence, the need for organisations to deal with the problem has become a global priority, regardless of the size of the financial institutions. Despite the compliance AML efforts undertaken by various institutions, AML compliance appears to be a daunting challenge, the question posed by this research is whether there is a need for independent anti-money laundering (AML) compliance reviews, given the invasive nature of money laundering in financial institutions. Secondly, the research addresses the question of who is well positioned to perform the independent AML compliance reviews. In addressing the second question, the research will discuss why internal audit is an invaluable resource in terms of risk management processes and the reasons why they are an integral part of the AML solution. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Auditing / unrestricted

Penningtvätt är idag ett samhällsproblem som hotar att förstöra förtroendet för det finansiella systemet och berörda institutioner. Bankerna kan idag betraktas ha ett viktigt ansvar i att förhindra penningtvätt, men trots ansvaret har olika banker i Sverige under de senaste åren fått negativ uppmärksamhet i media och blivit dömda till olika sanktioner. Parallellt med regelverket och den ökade digitaliseringen, värnar bankerna om sina kundrelationer på den konkurrensutsatta marknad där de är verksamma. Det går även att diskutera hur bankernas roll att bekämpa penningtvätt förhåller sig till att de som privata aktörer även har intresse i att bedriva vinstdrivande affärsverksamhet.  Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur banker verksamma i Sverige ser på sin dubbla roll i att bedriva vinstdrivande affärsverksamhet och samtidigt bära ett stort ansvar för att förhindra penningtvätt, vilket kan beskrivas som resurskrävande brottsbekämpning. Vidare är syftet att analysera vad bankernas roll skapar för incitament, möjligheter och utmaningar för banker att förhindra penningtvätt. För att uppnå syftet har bankernas relation gentemot kunder, myndigheter och konkurrenter legat till grund för studiens analysmodell, som har använts för att analysera det insamlade materialet. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod, där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med experter som dagligen arbetar med penningtvättsfrågor inom banker verksamma i Sverige.  Resultatet i denna studie tyder på att bankerna idag tar sin roll som penningtvättsbekämpare på större allvar, där mer resurser läggs på området än för bara några år sedan. Den ryktesrisk som bankerna idag behöver hantera, samtidigt som de är verksamma på en konkurrensutsatt marknad, har visat sig vara en viktig faktor i hur bankerna ser på sin roll. Trots att resultatet visar på förbättringar, har banker en utmaning i att hänga med i digitaliseringens utveckling, något som hittills mer gynnat de som tvättar pengar än bankerna. En möjlighet som resultatet visar är att bankerna efterfrågar utökat samarbete mellan banker och myndigheter, något som i framtiden kan leda till ett mer effektivt arbete mot penningtvätt. / Money laundering is today a societal problem that threatens to destroy the trust in the financial system and the institutions concerned. Banks can today be considered to have an important responsibility in preventing money laundering. Despite the responsibility, various banks in Sweden have in recent years received negative media attention and been penalized with various sanctions. In parallel with the regulations and the increased digitalization, the banks want to keep their customer relations at the competitive market in which they operate. It is also possible to discuss how banks’ role in preventing money laundering relates to the fact that they, as private actors, also have an interest in making profit as private actors.  The aim of the study is to investigate how banks operating in Sweden view their dual role in making for-profit business operations and at the same time having a big responsibility for preventing money laundering, which can be described as resource-intensive law enforcement. Furthermore, the aim is to analyze what banks’ role creates for incentives, opportunities and challenges for banks to prevent money laundering. To achieve the aim of the study, the banks relationship to customers, authorities and competitors have formed the basis of the analysis model, which has been used to analyze the result from the interviews that have been made. The study was conducted using a qualitative method, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts who work at a daily basis with money laundering questions within banks operating in Sweden.  The results of this study indicate that banks today take their role in combating money laundering more seriously, where more resources are invested in the area comparing with just a few years earlier. The reputation risk that the banks today need to deal with, at the same time as they operate in a competitive market, has proved to be an important factor in how banks view their role. Although the results show improvements, banks have a challenge in keeping up with the digitalization and its development, something that so far have benefited money launderers more than the banks. A possibility that the result shows is that the banks request increased cooperation between banks and authorities, something that in the future may lead to a more efficient work against money laundering.