The subject of my thesis is the identification and subsequent comparison of legal instruments which are intended to fight against legalization of proceeds of crime, which is also referred to as money laundering, in the Czech Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany. The first chapter is to familiarize the reader with the issue of money laundering, therefore it provides the definition of the phenomenon of money laundering and also describes the typical phases of this process. The second chapter is devoted to international institutions that deal with money laundering on the supranational level and whose activities are then reflected in international standards. The third chapter deals with legislation related to the fight against legalization of proceeds of crime in the Czech Republic. First I focus on the history of the development of the struggle against money laundering in the country and subsequently describe particular laws designed to regulate the rights and obligations relating to the effective fight against this phenomenon. Further I describe particular obligations that fall on subjects, which may be confronted with efforts to launder money within its activities, and characterize individual institutions that are involved in the fight against money laundering. The fourth chapter is...

Magister Legum - LLM

This dissertation examines a bank’s right to unilaterally terminate its contractual relationship with a customer on the basis of reputational risk. The law of contract allows a bank to terminate the bank-customer agreement when the customer is in serious breach of the contract. Over the years, however, a pattern has started to develop by which a bank can unilaterally terminate the bank-customer relationship of high-risk customers based on reputational risk. Banks are reluctant to facilitate the transactions of individuals surrounded by negative publicity, due to fears of how the bank’s investors, customers or counterparts might perceive the bank. Compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements, as set out by both domestic and foreign legislation, results in higher costs for the bank. As such, the profitability of a particular bank-customer relationship may ultimately decline to such an extent that the bank rather decides to make an appropriate business decision by terminating the relationship. Correspondent banking relationships are agreements in terms of which one bank will provide services for another in jurisdictions where the first bank lacks a physical presence. As such, whenever there is a perception that a local bank does not comply with the relevant AML/CFT laws as set out by its domestic legislation, the correspondent bank might decide to terminate its relationship with the local bank, leaving the latter financially excluded from the correspondent banking market. Such a situation would hinder the growth of the South African economy and may also cause a systemic event in the financial industry. Adequate customer due diligence (CDD) measures assist a bank in formulating a clear understanding of the business of its customers. The information obtained through CDD may also assist the bank in determining the reputation of a particular customer. This information can also assist law enforcement in combatting financial crimes. In this regard, it is recommended that a bank should be able to trace the information that was shared with Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and law enforcement agencies, so that the bank may reasonably determine the level of reputational risk involved in the relationship. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM / Unrestricted

The issue is based on two main focuses. It records the conference reports from the “4th Liechtenstein Talks on Economic Criminal Law”, which deal in depth with various topics relating to business and compliance. This meeting was organized by the editor Konstantina Papathanasiou and can be seen as setting the pace for the current discourse on white-collar criminal law. But also other articles also found their way into the edition. An overarching focus is the discussion of artificial intelligence in whistleblowing and copyright law. This is how Markus Endres writes about whistleblowing tools such as AI-Supported Data Analysis. Clemens Danda delves deeper into AI and EU copyright law. Another article is dedicated to the topic of anti-money laundering compliance compliance in context with the trade of Art NFTs. This article complements the edition thematically with the area of criminal art law. To sum up, the issue contains a colorful bouquet of many current and future-oriented compliance aspects, takes a close look at them and provides solutions and answers

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Författare: Robin Castor och André Rosenqvist  Handledare: Elias Bengtsson  Examinator: Andreas Jansson  Titel: Anti Money Laundering – Förhindra eller undvika? – En studie om svenska AML-chefers inställning till penningtvättsregelverken.  Sökord: AML, Anti-Money Laundering, Penningtvätt, Bankreglering, Compliance, KYC, Kundkännedom, Riskbedömning, Riskbaserat förhållningssätt, Rapportering, Resursallokering  Bakgrund: Penningtvätt är ett växande problem som skadar samhället. För att hantera detta problem utfärdar EU kontinuerligt nya direktiv för medlemsländerna att implementera. Den aktör som hamnat mest i fokus är banker, där skandaler visat på brister i arbetet mot penningtvätt bland svenska banker. Regelverken ställer hårda krav samtidigt som ett riskbaserat förhållningssätt låter banker tolka och implementera arbetet olika. Genom att studera AML-chefers inställning till regelverken bidrar denna studie med en synvinkel som inte tidigare beaktats i Sverige.  Syfte: Denna studie syftar att öka förståelsen kring attityder mot AML och dess regelverk inom svenska banker, om det skiljer sig mellan olika banker samt vad det kan innebära för alla berörda parter.  Metod: En kvalitativ studie med abduktiv forskningsansats har genomförts. Studien har hämtat empiri genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem olika AML-chefer på den svenska bankmarknaden.  Resultat/Slutsatser: Studiens resultat visar hur AML-chefer i Sverige har en kritisk syn på penningtvätts-regelverken. Regelverken upplevs ställa höga, men rimliga, krav på bankerna. Flera fördelar med det riskbaserade förhållningssättet lyfts upp, där riskbedömning och kundkännedom ger en god överblick av verksamheten i ett bolagsstyrnings-perspektiv. Regelverken låter bankerna stänga ute de kunder som inte vill samarbeta. Tyvärr kan dessa kunder gå vidare till nästa bank och fortsätta sitt misstänksamma beteende. Detta problem grundar sig i banksekretessen som gör det omöjligt för banker att dela information och samarbeta i arbetet mot penningtvätt. Studien visar därmed hur incitamenten bakom efterföljandet av regelverket till stor del bygger på rädslan av att skada bankens eget rykte eller ådra sig stora bötesbelopp. Fokus har skiftat från att faktiskt försöka stoppa penningtvätt, till att endast undvika att själv bli utsatt för penningtvätt. / Authors: Robin Castor and André Rosenqvist  Supervisor: Elias Bengtsson  Examiner: Andreas Jansson  Title: Anti Money Laundering - Prevent or Avoid? A study of attitudes towards money laundering regulations among Swedish AML-managers.  Keywords: AML, Anti-money laundering, Money laundering, Banking regulation, Compliance, KYC, Know your customer, Risk assessment, Risk-based approach, Legal reporting, Resource allocation  Background: Money laundering is a growing problem that harms society. To address this issue, the EU is continuously issuing new directives for member states to implement. The banking sector has come to be the most affected industry, where scandals have shown deficiency in the work against money laundering among Swedish banks. These regulations set strict requirements at the same time as the risk- based approach allows banks to interpret and implement the regulations in various degrees. By studying how Swedish AML-managers experience these regulations, this study contributes with a point of view that has not been considered in Sweden previously.  Purpose: This study aims to increase the understanding of attitudes and experience towards AML and its regulations within Swedish banks, if it differs between banks and what it could signify for involved parties.  Method: A qualitative study with an abductive research approach has been conducted. The study has gained empirical data through semi-structured interviews with five different AML managers in the Swedish banking market.  Results/Conclusions: The results of the study show how AML managers in Sweden have a critical view of the money laundering regulations. The regulations are perceived to put high, but appropriate, requirements in the banks. Various advantages of the risk-based approach are highlighted, where risk assessment and customer awareness (KYC) provide a good overview of the business from a corporate governance perspective. The regulations allow banks to end their business relationship with customers who do not want to cooperate. Unfortunately, these customers are able continue their suspicious behavior throughout different banks. This problem is based on the bank secrecy, which makes it impossible for banks to share information and cooperate in the work against money laundering. The study shows how the incentives behind compliance with the regulations are largely based on the fear of damaging reputation or receiving heavy fines. The focus has shifted from actually trying to stop money laundering, to only avoiding being subjected to money laundering themselves.

Notre recherche vise à vérifier s'il existe un lien entre l'intérêt des Américains pour les investissements étrangers et le maintien des structures opaques de la finance internationale. Les pratiques d'opacité financière (utilisation abusive du secret bancaire, faibles mesures d'identification du client, faible règlementation bancaire, absence d’échange d’information fiscale, absence d’obligations d’enregistrements de compagnies et de fiducies, possibilité d’établir la propriété d’une société avec des prête-noms, utilisation de bons au porteur, manque d’encadrement des fiducies, etc.) semblent accommoder les États qui les dénoncent. Utilisant les théories des jeux à deux niveaux de Putnam, de la règlementation et de l’équilibre de Nash, nous faisons le lien entre le niveau national et international. Notre recherche consiste en deux études de cas. La première traite d’un projet de règlement de l’Internal Revenue Service visant à assurer la déclaration de revenus d’intérêt sur les dépôts bancaires des non-résidents. La seconde traite d’une série de projets de loi déposés au Sénat et à la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis. Ils cherchent à assurer la transparence du processus d’enregistrement de compagnies de manière à faciliter l’accès des agences d’application de la loi à l’information sur les bénéficiaires effectifs des compagnies formées en sol américain. Notre recherche ne permet pas de confirmer notre hypothèse avec certitude. Cependant, nos données tendent à indiquer que les groupes d’intellectuels et les groupes de pression financiers incitent le gouvernement des États-Unis à freiner la mise en application de certaines mesures prévues par le régime antiblanchiment (particulièrement l’identification du client et le partage d’information avec des pays tiers) pour attirer l’investissement étranger. / Our Study aims to verify whether the United States’ interest in attracting foreign investment is linked to international financial opacity. Financial opacity practices (abusive use of bank secrecy, weak “Know Your Client” procedures, unregulated banking sector, no tax information exchange, absence of corporate and fiduciary registration obligations, possibility to set up corporations with nominee, possibility to issue bearer shares, lack of regulations for trusts, etc.) appear to accommodate even the states openly opposed to them. Using Putnam’s theory of two level games, regulation theory and Nash’s theory of equilibrium, we establish a link between the national and international levels. Our analysis includes two case studies. The first one deals with a project regulation from the Internal Revenue Service intended to ensure reporting of deposit interest paid to non-resident aliens. The second is a study of a series of project law presented to the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Those bills would allow for incorporation transparency to assist law enforcement in their efforts to identify beneficial owners of companies formed in the United States. Our hypothesis is not fully confirmed. However, our data tends to indicate that think tank and financial lobby groups influence the United States into stalling enactment of some anti-money laundering measures (particularly client identification and information sharing with tiers countries) in order to attract foreign investment.

Notre recherche vise à vérifier s'il existe un lien entre l'intérêt des Américains pour les investissements étrangers et le maintien des structures opaques de la finance internationale. Les pratiques d'opacité financière (utilisation abusive du secret bancaire, faibles mesures d'identification du client, faible règlementation bancaire, absence d’échange d’information fiscale, absence d’obligations d’enregistrements de compagnies et de fiducies, possibilité d’établir la propriété d’une société avec des prête-noms, utilisation de bons au porteur, manque d’encadrement des fiducies, etc.) semblent accommoder les États qui les dénoncent. Utilisant les théories des jeux à deux niveaux de Putnam, de la règlementation et de l’équilibre de Nash, nous faisons le lien entre le niveau national et international. Notre recherche consiste en deux études de cas. La première traite d’un projet de règlement de l’Internal Revenue Service visant à assurer la déclaration de revenus d’intérêt sur les dépôts bancaires des non-résidents. La seconde traite d’une série de projets de loi déposés au Sénat et à la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis. Ils cherchent à assurer la transparence du processus d’enregistrement de compagnies de manière à faciliter l’accès des agences d’application de la loi à l’information sur les bénéficiaires effectifs des compagnies formées en sol américain. Notre recherche ne permet pas de confirmer notre hypothèse avec certitude. Cependant, nos données tendent à indiquer que les groupes d’intellectuels et les groupes de pression financiers incitent le gouvernement des États-Unis à freiner la mise en application de certaines mesures prévues par le régime antiblanchiment (particulièrement l’identification du client et le partage d’information avec des pays tiers) pour attirer l’investissement étranger. / Our Study aims to verify whether the United States’ interest in attracting foreign investment is linked to international financial opacity. Financial opacity practices (abusive use of bank secrecy, weak “Know Your Client” procedures, unregulated banking sector, no tax information exchange, absence of corporate and fiduciary registration obligations, possibility to set up corporations with nominee, possibility to issue bearer shares, lack of regulations for trusts, etc.) appear to accommodate even the states openly opposed to them. Using Putnam’s theory of two level games, regulation theory and Nash’s theory of equilibrium, we establish a link between the national and international levels. Our analysis includes two case studies. The first one deals with a project regulation from the Internal Revenue Service intended to ensure reporting of deposit interest paid to non-resident aliens. The second is a study of a series of project law presented to the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Those bills would allow for incorporation transparency to assist law enforcement in their efforts to identify beneficial owners of companies formed in the United States. Our hypothesis is not fully confirmed. However, our data tends to indicate that think tank and financial lobby groups influence the United States into stalling enactment of some anti-money laundering measures (particularly client identification and information sharing with tiers countries) in order to attract foreign investment.

Records of actual owners of limited liability companies and joint stock companies This diploma thesis deals with the records of actual owners of limited liability companies and joint stock companies. The aim of the thesis is to introduce the basics of the institute of records of actual owners and then to discuss its key features and problematic issues associated with it. At the beginning, the thesis outlines the evolution of the institute of records of actual owners, and further evaluates the potential to meet the goals associated with the introduction of the evidence. At the same time, the thesis draws attention to the pitfalls that the records can bring in practice. The thesis also deals with the issues related to the extent of the mandatory information about the actual owner and the issues related to the storage and handling of such information. The thesis leads a discussion to interpret the relevant provisions to keep a balance between the necessary prerequisites for fulfilling the meaning and purpose of the records and the rights of a legal persons. In the following chapters, the thesis focuses on the definition of the actual owner and on the systematization of the ways in which a natural person or group of natural persons can be an actual owner. The thesis interprets the provision defining...

With the implementation of more and more stringent measures to prevent money laundering, criminals are resorting to the expertise of lawyers for assistance in the formulation of increasingly complex money laundering schemes. This expertise is provided both wittingly and unwittingly. The purpose of this research was to consider whether the South African anti-money laundering legislation places suspicious transaction reporting obligations, which are in line with and meet international directives, conventions and best practice frameworks, on attorneys. The study entails a consideration of the suspicious transaction reporting obligations of lawyers introduced by the Financial Action Task Force, the European Union, the United Kingdom and South Africa and provides an understanding of the concept of money laundering, the money laundering process and the areas in which lawyers are vulnerable to money laundering. The research found that the suspicious transaction reporting responsibilities of attorneys in terms of South African anti-money laundering legislation are not in line with international frameworks and best practice. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Auditing / MPhil / Unrestricted