Digital Currencies and the Anti-money Laundering/Counter-terrorism Financing Regulations in the EU: Imaginary Risk or Real Challenge?

Author(s):  
A. A. Koval ◽  
M. Yu. Kuzmenkov

E-money is widely used in cross-border commercial relations. It can increase the speed and cut cost of payments for business. At the same time e-money can be used for laundering funds gained by criminal ways and for terrorism financing. FATF member-states use provisions of the legislation about fighting criminal incomes’ legalization in respect to e-money issuers. These countries also underline that special risk for criminal incomes’ legalization can be caused by anonymous money and pre-paid cards. Therefore, many countries fix in their national laws measures that ensure realization of risk-oriented approach directed at minimizing risks of money laundering and terrorism financing. For example, the EU develops amendments to the directive aiming at elimination of risks dealing with use of e-money and pre-paid cards for legalizing criminal incomes. The authors propose measures aimed at improvement of legislation about fighting money laundering and terrorism financing to minimize respective risks in using e-money. At the same time the necessity to develop conditions for extending possibilities of remote identification was pointed out, as it was envisaged by the program ‘Digital Economics of the Russian Federation’.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuliera Zariz Azman Aziz ◽  
Seri Ayu Masuri Md Daud

Purpose This study aims to examine the associations between customers’ awareness of money laundering and terrorism financing, trust in banking secrecy measures and discomforts in fulfilling the bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) procedure and their acceptance of existing practices of banks regarding AML and counter-terrorism financing. Design/methodology/approach This study adapts a set of survey instruments developed and validated by prior studies to collect the required data. A convenient sample of 160 Malaysian bank customers aged 18 and above were surveyed to collect the data. Findings This study finds a significant relationship between the respondents’ awareness of money laundering and terrorism financing, trust in banking secrecy measures and their acceptance of the bank’s AML and counter-terrorism financing practices. However, no significant relationship is documented between the level of discomforts experienced by customers in satisfying the banks’ AML requirements and their acceptance of the banks’ AML practices. These results hold even after controlling for alternative explanations of the customers’ acceptance of banking practices examined in the extant literature: age, gender, location, literacy level and occupation. Research limitations/implications This study extends the literature on customers’ acceptance of banking practices more broadly by providing empirical evidence on the role of customers’ awareness on issues underlying the banking practices and their trust in the bank’s secrecy measures. Practical implications This study also provides some practical contributions by shedding some light on the factors that could help banks increase the acceptance of AML practices among their customers. Thus, the findings of this paper help banks focus their effort on these factors and hence increase acceptance rate more effectively. Originality/value Drawing on the elements of the theory of reasoned actions and technology acceptance model and the extant research on trust-privacy and comfortability in a banking setting, this study proposes an integrated approach that is theoretically and empirically grounded.


Author(s):  
K. S. Melkumyan

The article examines the FATF specific approach to the problem of terrorism financing. The FATF essence, content of the activity and influence levers are also analyzed within the article. It is shown that the FATF has reviewed the problem of terrorism financing in the broadest perspective, having engaged simultaneously and consistently mechanisms for combating money laundering and terrorism financing. The Task Force has greatly contributed to building of the world counter-terrorism financing system through forming the legal and institutional basis as well as through interaction with all the possible participants and actors of world politics in this area. Moreover, the FATF has succeeded in geographical expansion of the FATF influence from the original 16 to187 jurisdictions by promotion of FATF-style regional bodies establishment. Particular attention is drawn to the unique features of the FATF Recommendations in comparison with the earlier issued sources of international law, which define the international counter-terrorism financing regime. The author believes that one of the advantages of the FATF as an institute within the counter-terrorism financing system among others is the informal status of the FATF, which provides its flexibility and high ability to respond quickly and in a timely manner to evolving nature of money laundering and terrorism financing as well as emerging threats.


Author(s):  
Ibrahim George ◽  
Manolya Kavakli

In this chapter, the authors explore the operational data related to transactions in a financial organisation to find out the suitable techniques to assess the origin and purpose of these transactions and to detect if they are relevant to money laundering. The authors‘ purpose is to provide an AML/CTF compliance report that provides AUSTRAC with information about reporting entities‘ compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. Their aim is to look into the Money Laundering activities and try to identify the most critical classifiers that can be used in building a decision tree. The tree has been tested using a sample of the data and passing it through the relevant paths/scenarios on the tree. The success rate is 92%, however, the tree needs to be enhanced so that it can be used solely to identify the suspicious transactions. The authors propose that a decision tree using the classifiers identified in this chapter can be incorporated into financial applications to enable organizations to identify the High Risk transactions and monitor or report them accordingly.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Abubakar Siddique ◽  
Haitham Nobanee ◽  
Osama Fayez Atayah ◽  
Mohammed Khereldin Bayzid

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) disclosures by money exchanger providers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct a content analysis on firms’ websites to compare their AML/CTF disclosure against the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The authors use a one-sample t-test to examine the degree of these disclosures. Findings Overall, money exchange providers in GCC countries do not demonstrate a high degree of AML/CTF disclosure (20.27%). Country-wise disclosure levels are: Qatar 31%, UAE 19%, Kuwait 17.1%, Oman 26.27%, Bahrain 23.27% and KSA 6.1%. Research limitations/implications The study contributes immensely to understanding the disclosure behavior of this sector. It also helps in assessing their compliance with FATF recommendations. Practical implications The results show poor AML/CTF disclosure and compliance by money exchange providers, which should lead to increased regulations by policymakers and more disclosure by practitioners. Social implications Money laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF) can adversely affect societies. This study should help regulators to identify vulnerable areas in ML and TF activities, compare disclosures by companies in their countries with those of other countries and identify areas for improvement. Originality/value The study is a novel attempt. No study has been undertaken before to investigate AML and CTF disclosure by money exchange providers either globally, regionally or in any country.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 80-99

This article discusses the key issues of legal regulation of the crypto economy in some countries (USA, Switzerland, France, Russia, Belarus, Israel, and the EU as a whole). Special attention is paid to the legal regulation of ICO as a way to attract foreign investments. The statements of regulatory authorities of different countries are considered; the existing practice of ICO project regulation and the current state of the primary token placement market are analyzed; the aspects of the extraterritorial effect of the U.S. securities legislation are studied, and so are thekey risks for the investor and the creator of an ICO project. A separate paragraphis devoted to the known methods used by law enforcement services (e.g. Europol)to fight money laundering and terrorism financing through criminal cryptocurrencytransactions. As a result of the analysis, taking into account the current practice of combating money laundering, recommendations are made to changethe relevant legislation. In addition, this article discusses the problems of legal uncertainty regarding the taxation of crypto assets. The authors analyzed the currentlegal framework in the Russian Federation aimed at regulating the turnover of crypto assets. In particular, the bill on digital financial assets was considered. The overall conclusion of the study is that, in general, Russia today has the opportunityto become one of the leaders in the new market. Russia ranks second in the world in the number of ICOs, and the country has launched a number of blockchainprojects that are popular around the globe.


Data Mining ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 2193-2207
Author(s):  
Ibrahim George ◽  
Manolya Kavakli

In this chapter, the authors explore the operational data related to transactions in a financial organisation to find out the suitable techniques to assess the origin and purpose of these transactions and to detect if they are relevant to money laundering. The authors’ purpose is to provide an AML/CTF compliance report that provides AUSTRAC with information about reporting entities’ compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. Their aim is to look into the Money Laundering activities and try to identify the most critical classifiers that can be used in building a decision tree. The tree has been tested using a sample of the data and passing it through the relevant paths/scenarios on the tree. The success rate is 92%, however, the tree needs to be enhanced so that it can be used solely to identify the suspicious transactions. The authors propose that a decision tree using the classifiers identified in this chapter can be incorporated into financial applications to enable organizations to identify the High Risk transactions and monitor or report them accordingly.


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