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.

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.

Money laundering is marginalized phenomenon with high social impact which comes from necessary connection of this activity with illegal activities, especially organized crime. Since the goal of almost every illegal activity is to create profit (and since the biggest profit comes from the activities which are highly dangerous for the society, such as drug trafficking) it is vital for the society to fight money laundering effectively. It is in the best interest of the whole society to fight this phenomenon and cut the organized crime out of their resources through effective control of the money laundering. The goal of this thesis is to explain the issue of money laundering in detail, to map the whole process while using mostly comparative and analytic methods and summarize the international and Czech anti- money laundering legislation. I would be glad if the reader had truly concrete idea about the phenomenon of money laundering after reading my thesis. In the first part, I am dealing with the whole concept of money laundering, meaning history and definition of the term itself. I also compare terms money laundering and legalization of proceeds from crime. Then I analyze the true nature of money laundering and financing of terror and the process of money laundering. I also deal with concrete subjects...

Conscious of the limitations of the petroleum-based economy in Bahrain, the Bahraini government aims to improve other industries, such as finance. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to study the current status of banking confidentiality in Bahrain, and to discover the possibilities for improvement in the banking sector in Bahrain, so that the country can succeed in being the financial centre of the Middle East. The main aspects of this study are to explore the meaning of the doctrine of confidentiality; the duration of and the exceptions to the duty of confidentiality, and the delicate balance between protecting banking confidentiality and combating money-laundering. This thesis is based on library research, involving an analysis of a range of documents, publications, cases, articles, online sources and legal materials from the United Kingdom (UK) and Bahraini jurisdictions and legislations, both in Arabic and English. The findings are as follows: surprisingly, compared to English law, the exceptions to the duty of confidentiality under Bahraini law are much more limited. They are clearly stated under the CBBFIA. Although the CBBFIA designates four articles that deal with the duty of confidentiality, it lacks specific and important details related to the application of these articles, such as the scope and duration of the duty of confidentiality. Bahraini courts have failed to apply any article for the protection of banking confidentiality, and the court records lack any cases relating to the protection of banking confidentiality. Also a significant number of money- laundering transactions could be performed through banks. Finally, bank customers in Bahrain have little awareness of their rights in the framework of banker-customer confidentiality.

O sistema internacional testemunha a consolidação de um regime internacional de combate à lavagem de dinheiro. Fundado em premissas hodiernas do Direito Internacional, esse regime responde a uma ordem internacional multifacetada, que se verifica no progressivo protagonismo de atores subnacionais e de organismos não governamentais. A consequente relativização da função dos Estados, como vetores históricos das relações internacionais, enseja um processo de jurificação, por meio de instrumentos de soft law estabelecidos, em sua maioria, pelo GAFI. Analisa-se a formação histórica da lavagem de dinheiro e o respectivo processo de construção de antagonistas legais, tais como os tratados celebrados no âmbito das Nações Unidas e o soft law - paradigma consubstanciado na criação do GAFI. Examinam-se as recomendações do GAFI, na estruturação do regime internacional de combate à lavagem de dinheiro e na construção de projeções regionais do organismo, concentradas na expansão de seu espectro de atuação e de seu alcance. Estudam-se o processo de avaliação dos membros e não membros e o processo sancionador baseado na criação das listas de países não cooperantes, com o objetivo de evidenciar os seus papéis enquanto vetores de compliance. Ao final, trata-se o tema sob a perspectiva da compliance na ordem jurídica nacional, analisando a internalização das recomendações, no ordenamento brasileiro, desde a criminalização da lavagem de dinheiro até a estruturação administrativa dos órgãos de regulação (COAF, Banco Central, Superintendencia de Seguros Privados, entre outros) e da Unidade de Inteligência Financeira, de forma a evidenciar as alterações estruturais realizadas na legislação interna visando adequá-la às exigências internacionais. / The international system has been witnessing the consolidation of an transnational moneylaundering enforcement regime, built upon contemporary International Law premises. Such system tackles a multifaceted world order which one can attest by spotting the progressive protagonism of both subnational actors and non-governmental organizations and the resulting relativization of States functions historically the main vector of the international relations. The aforementioned phenomenon gives room to a jurification process lead by FATF soft law. Accordingly, this works analyzes the historical development of money laundering and the formation of its respective legal antagonists, such as the United Nation System treaties and soft law a paradigm consubstantiated by the launch of FATF. It examines FATF recommendations, the structuring of an international money-laundering enforcement regime and the organisms regional projections, generally focused on the expansion of its operating spectrum and outreach. It studies the members and non-members assessment procedure and their sanctioning process based on the enrollment of noncooperative countries, in order to highlight their role as compliance vectors. Lastly, it glances compliance through the Brazilian legal system, the internalization of FATF recommendations since money launderings criminalization so far as to the administrative arrangement of regulatory bodies (COAF, Central Bank, Private Insurances Superintendence, and so forth) and of the Financial Intelligence Unit, in order to highlight the structural changes made to the domestic legislation so that it adapts itself to international requirements.

<p><p>Uppsatsens syfte är att ta reda på enskilda revisorers uppfattning om penningtvättslagens eventuella påverkan på revisorns arbete och kundrelation. Dessutom undersöker uppsatsen enskilda revisorers syn på om de anser att de har förutsättningarna som krävs för att följa penningtvättslagen. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Fem revisorer med lång erfarenhet inom revisionsbranschen har blivit intervjuade och därmed bistått med sina åsikter.</p><p><p>Enligt lag (2009:62) om åtgärder mot penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism är revisorer skyldiga att granska och anmäla transaktioner som kan misstänkas vara penningtvätt eller finansiering av terrorism. Revisorerna är även skyldiga att ha god kundkännedom, vilket bland annat innebär att de skall göra noggranna identitetskontroller. Från en del håll har det dock framkommit åsikter om att det inte är problemfritt att involvera revisorer i lagstiftningen mot penningtvätt.</p><p>Den genomförda undersökningen visar att majoriteten av de intervjuade revisorerna inte ser några direkta problem med att vara involverade i penningtvättslagen. Åsikterna är dock delade och några är kritiska till lagstiftningen. Slutsatserna av studien är att majoriteten av respondenterna inte ser att lagen påverkar relationen till klienten. De anser vidare att lagen innebär mer arbete, men detta ser revisorerna inte som särskilt påfrestande. Revisorerna som har deltagit i studien anser själva att de har goda förutsättningar att följa lagen.</p></p></p> / <p><p>The purpose with this thesis is to study the opinions that individual auditors have about the law against money laundering. The study will examine the opinions from auditors about how the law affects their work and their relations to the clients. Individual auditors view of the conditions to follow the law against money laundering, will also be studied in this thesis. The study was conducted with a qualitative research method. Five auditors with long experience from the accounting profession have been interviewed and had thereby assisted the thesis with their views.</p><p><p>According to the law (2009:62) against money laundering and terrorist financing, auditors are obligated to examine and report transactions that could be suspected money laundering or terrorist financing. Auditors are also responsible to have a good knowledge about their clients, which for instance means that they must do accurate identity checks of the clients. However some people have pointed out that it’s not without any problems to involve auditors in the law against money laundering.</p><p>The study shows that a majority of the interviewed auditors don’t see any problems with being involved in the regulation against money laundering. However the opinions are divided and some of the auditors are critical to the regulation. The conclusion from the study is that most of the interviewed auditors don’t think that the relation to the client is affected by the law against money laundering. Further on they think that the law means more work, but the auditors don’t see this as particularly problematical. The auditors that have participated in the study believe that they have good terms to follow the law against money laundering.</p></p></p>

Uppsatsens syfte är att ta reda på enskilda revisorers uppfattning om penningtvättslagens eventuella påverkan på revisorns arbete och kundrelation. Dessutom undersöker uppsatsen enskilda revisorers syn på om de anser att de har förutsättningarna som krävs för att följa penningtvättslagen. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Fem revisorer med lång erfarenhet inom revisionsbranschen har blivit intervjuade och därmed bistått med sina åsikter. Enligt lag (2009:62) om åtgärder mot penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism är revisorer skyldiga att granska och anmäla transaktioner som kan misstänkas vara penningtvätt eller finansiering av terrorism. Revisorerna är även skyldiga att ha god kundkännedom, vilket bland annat innebär att de skall göra noggranna identitetskontroller. Från en del håll har det dock framkommit åsikter om att det inte är problemfritt att involvera revisorer i lagstiftningen mot penningtvätt. Den genomförda undersökningen visar att majoriteten av de intervjuade revisorerna inte ser några direkta problem med att vara involverade i penningtvättslagen. Åsikterna är dock delade och några är kritiska till lagstiftningen. Slutsatserna av studien är att majoriteten av respondenterna inte ser att lagen påverkar relationen till klienten. De anser vidare att lagen innebär mer arbete, men detta ser revisorerna inte som särskilt påfrestande. Revisorerna som har deltagit i studien anser själva att de har goda förutsättningar att följa lagen. / The purpose with this thesis is to study the opinions that individual auditors have about the law against money laundering. The study will examine the opinions from auditors about how the law affects their work and their relations to the clients. Individual auditors view of the conditions to follow the law against money laundering, will also be studied in this thesis. The study was conducted with a qualitative research method. Five auditors with long experience from the accounting profession have been interviewed and had thereby assisted the thesis with their views. According to the law (2009:62) against money laundering and terrorist financing, auditors are obligated to examine and report transactions that could be suspected money laundering or terrorist financing. Auditors are also responsible to have a good knowledge about their clients, which for instance means that they must do accurate identity checks of the clients. However some people have pointed out that it’s not without any problems to involve auditors in the law against money laundering. The study shows that a majority of the interviewed auditors don’t see any problems with being involved in the regulation against money laundering. However the opinions are divided and some of the auditors are critical to the regulation. The conclusion from the study is that most of the interviewed auditors don’t think that the relation to the client is affected by the law against money laundering. Further on they think that the law means more work, but the auditors don’t see this as particularly problematical. The auditors that have participated in the study believe that they have good terms to follow the law against money laundering.

This research aims to explore if rational choice theory can be applied to explain money laundering in Hong Kong by drawing on the characteristics of stooges and their motives for colluding in money laundering activities and the effectiveness of imprisonment or other forms of punishments as a means of deterrence. An actor has limited cognitive capacity, makes decisions based on incomplete information and his actions reflect personal optimal beliefs (Piquero and Tibbetts, 2002; Hindmoor, 2006). Findings from the seven in-depth interviews conducted as part of the research and documentary reviews of local court cases support that financial reward is the major reason “why” offenders engage in money laundering activities at both the individual and institutional level. The findings also show that, in addition to ignorant and vulnerable individuals being chosen as stooges, well-regarded individuals and charitable organizations are also possible candidates. The research highlights a luring process experienced by the stooges which supports the psychosocial dynamics of rational choice. The research findings also challenge one of the cornerstones of classical criminology that maximum penalty is an effective means of deterrence. / published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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