Magister Legum - LLM / Money laundering (hereafter ML) is a multidisciplinary topic which has become important since the late 1980s. The term ‘laundering’ literally means ‘washing’ or ‘removing dirt’. It has been defined as the conversion of criminal income into assets that cannot be traced back to the underlying crime. Criminals use ML as a way of keeping control over the proceeds of crime and to provide, ultimately, a cover for their income and wealth. ML occurs every time any transaction takes place, regardless of whether it involves any form of property or benefit, whether tangible or not tangible, which is derived from criminal activity. ML is regulated at the global, regional and national levels. To combat ML and other financial crimes, Malawi enacted the Financial Crimes Act (hereafter FCA). The FCA establishes the Financial Intelligence Authority (hereafter FIA) as an institution whose objectives include collecting financial intelligence regarding suspicious transactions.

Money laundering is a serious crime with potentially wide ranging consequences that have numerous implications for criminological research. However, criminology rarely explores this crime, nor its potential impact on other more central crimes of interest (e.g. drug trafficking or organized crime). The present study adds to a limited body of literature examining money laundering from a criminological perspective, evaluating aspects of its regulation and social control within the banking industry. Several aspects of regulatory oversight and company dynamics such as fine/settlement size, company size, and the likelihood of non-AML/OFAC violations to predict future AML/OFAC violations were evaluated. These analyses largely supported that banking crimes, and more specifically AML violations, follow the same patterns observed within previous corporate crime research. However, the primary focus of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of industry success rankings as a form of social control as it pertains to AML violations and to determine whether or not banks that ranked well on industry rankings were also less likely to have banking violations. A variety of rankings including safety, asset-based, and overall performance measures were used to assess their relationship to bank violations, with analyses supporting that these banking industry success markers held little relationship to or acknowledgment of a firm’s previous AML/OFAC violations. Implications are discussed at length including the importance of and numerous directions for future criminological research on money laundering violation within the banking industry, suggested regulatory reforms, and the need for a wider variety and more tailored industry success measures to affect some level of social control.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att redogöra för hur kassapersonalens förutsättningar för att förhindra penningtvätt kan förklaras med hjälp av beslutsteorier. Teoretisk och empirisk metod: Forskningsmetoden för uppsatsen är kvalitativ, med en abduktiv ansats. Den för studien valda empiriska metoden är semi-strukturerade intervjuer där respondenterna är valda med hjälp av subjektivt urval samt ett så kallat snöbollsurval. Teoretisk referensram: Som bakgrund till studien ligger såväl internationella direktiv och rekommendationer som svensk reglering av penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism. Vi har också utgått från befintliga teorier kring regleringens betydelse, samt teorier om den riskbaserade regleringen. Den teoretiska referensramen innehåller dessutom tre olika beslutsteorier. Slutsats: Vår slutsats är att kassapersonalen anser sig ha de rätta förutsättningarna för att kunna förhindra penningtvätt. Men brister i hanteringen av penningtvätt visar att förutsättningarna inte är tillräckliga. / Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to describe how bank tellers have the opportunity to prevent money laundering by applying different decision theories. Theoretical and empirical method: The research method of the dissertation is qualitative, with an abductive approach. The chosen empirical method is semi-structured interviews where the respondents are selected with a subjective selction and a so called snowball selection. Theoretical approach: Behind the study are both international directives & recommendations and Swedish statutory laws of money laundering and financing of terrorism. We have also originated from existing theories about the importance of the regulation and theories about the risk-based regulation. The theoretical approach also contains three different decision theories. Conclusion: Our conclusion is that bank tellers think they have the right opportunities to prevent money laundering. But flaws in the management of money laundering show that the prerequisites are not sufficient.

Habilitation - Universität, Saarbrücken, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [425]-451) and index.

Le blanchiment de capitaux est actuellement le délit qui connaît la plus importante croissance. Par ailleurs, la lutte contre ce phénomène reste un thème actuel et global. Consciente du caractère essentiellement transfrontalier de ce fléau et ses conséquences néfastes qu’il présente particulièrement pour les pays en voie de développement dont les systèmes financiers sont réputés fragiles, l’Algérie a mis en place divers instruments afin de combattre le blanchiment d’argent. Outre sa participation aux instruments internationaux, elle a mis en place des moyens nationaux permettant de lutter contre cette forme de délinquance financière. Nous avons analysé ces instruments et les modifications récentes apportées en la matière par les autorités algériennes. / Money laundering is currently an offense that is still growing. Moreover, the fight against this phenomenon remains an overall theme. Recognizing the transboundary nature of this scourge and its harmful consequences that this presents particularly for the developing countries whose financial systems are notoriously fragile, Algeria has introduced various instruments to fight money laundering. In addition to its participation in international instruments, it has set up national means to fight against this form of financial crime. We analyzed these instruments and the recent changes made by the Algerian authorities.

Doctor Legum - LLD / Along with its inumerable wonders, the advent of the internet has brought with it very bad vices. The notion of convenience, which comes with the use of the internet, can be attributed to criminals who wish to disguise the proceeds of their ill-derived funds, or what is better known as cyberlaundering. Cyberlaundering is a phenomenon that seems negligible on face value, but, to the contrary, has very dire effects, especially on national economies, which are in no way trifling.This study describes the problem of cyberlaundering, pointing out the various legal issues pertaining to it. Given that cyberlaundering is a comparatively new crime, which is not yet conceptualized legally, criminal justice authorities find it hard to detect, investigate and prosecute cyberlaundering. An adequate legal regime against cyberlaundering is currently non-existent, as there is presently no concise international or national legal framework in place to contain the problem. Whilst the chief focus of the thesis is to devise a legal framework to combat cyberlaundering, considerable attention is also devoted to the tension that arises between public and private interests, amongst several other legal issues that come to play along the way. This is a debate that necessarily arises when legislatures resort to more radical anti-cyberlaundering laws. The study advocates a middle ground, which leads to the desired end of curbing the exponential growth of cyberlaundering, at the very least.

Magister Legum - LLM / Financial crimes are transnational in nature, and no country is immune from them. They are an international problem that can best be solved through international cooperation on a global scale. It is therefore necessary to have rules and norms that apply worldwide in order to deal with these crimes comprehensively.1 Of particular prominence is the crime of money laundering (ML), which may be defined as the processing of criminal proceeds to disguise their illegal origin.2 This term is relatively new and is broadly defined, with the definitions varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In Zimbabwe, money laundering acts are listed in the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act 34 of 2013 (the Principal Act).3 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the main international inter-governmental body formed specifically to set AML standards and to promote their implementation globally.

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...

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.