Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate Anti-Money laundry (AML) schemes of domestic banks and foreign banks by referencing findings from several professionals and scholars, and by analyzing AML policies domestically and internationally. Some commonly used methods of money laundry found in several case studies include: electronic fund transfer, opening joint account, collusion with foreign banks or bankers, forged import or export documents, etc. They all have the following characteristics: cash intensive, multiple transfer, disguise, or cross country and cross border. This study analyzes and confirms characteristics and commonly used methods of money laundry. This study also finds it important for bank staff to understand money laundry methods and characteristics in order to play the guarding role of AML and to prevent this illegal activity. This study proposes that the bank and bank employees have to complete the following tasks: 1. Arrange regular training and testing 2. Establish testing mechanism 3. Implement hierarchical review of abnormal transactions 4. Execute ad hoc review of AML systems 5. Proactively participate in AML training organized by banks or any relevant entities 6. Gain support from each of the management teams. Furthermore, this study finds that three more policies are required due to practical challenges found while bank employees are executing the prevention rules outlined in AML regulations. The three policies will allow smooth execution of AML. They are: 1 System assistance, reports creation and staff training 2. Effective AML is not only about how the regulations are outlined but more importantly about how they are actually executed 3. Bank executives should reinforce awareness and understanding of AML. The government and other related authorities should also ensure that the following tasks are implemented: 1. AML law should be complemented by fair inspection and regular audit 2. Related authorities should clarify the boundary of AML audit system adopted by each bank 3. Related authorities should publish regularly the result of how banks assist in AML and reward banks that proactively prevent money laundry. The above twelve suggestions will maximize the effectiveness of AML execution.

In 2019, the two Swedish banks Swedbank and SEB was involved in what has been called one of the largest money laundry scandals. Money laundering is a critical sustainability issue for banks since their operations enable money from corrupt activities to be laundered into the financial system, hence diverts resources from education and health services. Corruption is a difficult topic to manage due to its invisible nature, making it hard to detect and measure compared to emissions or compliance with human rights. In the last decades, there has been an increasing demand for organizations to communicate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) considerations. However, the flexibility allowed by standards and regulation in this area regarding what to disclose have been argued to undermine the reliability of CSR information. There have been discussions whether the banks had informed stakeholders about the anticorruption risks sufficiently, information that primarily should be communicated through sustainability and annual reports. Previous studies examining CSR reporting quality have found that companies present information in different ways, complicating a comparison of information. They have also found that such disclosure has been used as a strategy to highlight only the good work of a company and omit negative disclosures. This study examines the quality of CSR information that is communicated in annual and sustainability reports of the four largest banks operating in Sweden; Nordea, Handelsbanken, Swedbank, and SEB. Our focus is limited to disclosure about anti-corruption for which the Global reporting initiative (GRI) provides principles in terms of what they asses to be good content and quality. We will use these principles when structuring our categories in our qualitative content analysis with quantitative elements and when we analyse and make conclusions of our results regarding the quality. We use a content analysis model called the Consolidated Narrative Interrogation Model (CONI) which integrate both qualitative and quantitative measures of CSR reporting quality. Our result show that anti-corruption disclosure differs in terms of presentation structure, which requirements from GRI that are applied and how much information that is disclosed. The overall conclusion regarding its quality is that it does not meet the reporting quality principles stated in GRI 101: foundation. We find indications of strategic legitimacy in terms of how banks disclose anti-corruption activities which is critical for the overall reporting practise since its purpose it to constitute an accurate and reliable source of information to stakeholders.

The illicit practice of money laundering (ML) poses global challenges, causing harmful repercussions for society. Legislators worldwide have placed financial institutions at the forefront of initiatives aimed at preventing ML. Even with the adoption of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures, financial institutions continue to face challenges in combating illicit financial activity. Prior investigations primarily concentrated on evaluating the regulatory framework itself, leaving gaps in understanding other aspects causing ineffective AML efforts. Going further in-depth, this study aims to explore how institutional pressure leads to ineffective ML prevention within Finnish financial institutions. To address these challenges, the institutional theory and several concepts supported the exploration of the institutional environment, with due consideration given to social constructs. Furthermore, a qualitative approach is employed due to the exploratory nature of this study. It consists of the analysis of both classified and public official documents from the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA), interviews held with representatives actively involved in financial institutions' AML efforts, and other official AML guidelines. The findings of this study acknowledge the suboptimal regulatory pressure and reveal instances of data deficiencies. However, the social context emerged as the most influential factor, highlighting the gap between AML efforts and ML activities.

Studien syftade till att undersöka förekomsten samt utformningen av samarbeten mellan kriminella nätverk, samt vad dessa aspekter har för betydelse för brottsligheten. Vidare ämnade studien att kvalitativt undersöka de kriminella nätverkens penningtransaktioner till utlandet, samt hur dessa kunde kopplas till tidigare forskning, med avsikt att få en djupare förståelse kring internationell ekonomisk brottslighet. Centralt för detta arbete var det material som undersöktes i form av domslut, med tillhörande förundersökningsprotokoll, gällande valutaväxlingskontoret World Exchange. Den valda metoden social nätverksanalys (SNA) användes för att kartlägga nätverkspositioner och deras relationer. En kvalitativ analys applicerades beträffande de internationella transaktionerna som fördjupades med hjälp av den tillgängliga Encrochatbevisningen. Resultaten visade på att det förekommer en viss grad av gruppöverskridande brottsliga samarbeten - nexus - mellan de studerade nätverken. De mer tongivande nätverken, inom kontexten för transaktionerna inom World Exchange, påvisades även inneha en central position gällande de ekonomiska transaktioner som överfördes till utlandet. / The study aimed to investigate the existence and design of nexus between criminal networks and what significance these aspects have for criminality. Furthermore, the study aimed to qualitatively examine the criminal networks money transactions abroad, and how these could be linked to previous research, with the intention of gaining a deeper understanding of international economic crime. Central to this work was the material examined in the form of verdicts, with accompanying preliminary investigation protocols, concerning the currency exchange office World Exchange. The chosen method Social Network Analysis (SNA) was used to map network positions and their relationships. A qualitative analysis was applied to the international transactions that were deepened using the available Encrochats. The results showed that there is a certain degree of cross-group criminal cooperation - nexus - between the studied networks. Additionally, the results exhibited that the more dominant networks, within the context of the transactions within World Exchange, also held a central position regarding the financial transactions transferred abroad.