Over millennia, mankind has used hard cash in various forms ranging from shells to gold coins and paper. More recently, cash has become unpopular in political circles, as it effectively restricts states’ power to tax (explicitly or via negative interest rates) or to survey and potentially...

To facilitate law enforcement and regulatory actions in the relatively unfamiliar field of IVTS, three items are produced in this report. First, an analysis of difficulties likely to be encountered in investigations of hawala transactions in contrast with anticipated difficulties in...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to contribute to one's understanding of vulnerabilities for abuse in the realm of trade and commerce, and to appreciate how inattention to this issue undermines all other financial controls. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review the US rules and...

Defines hawala, which in Arabic means “transfer”; what distinguishes it from other fund transfer methods is its informality, reliance on trust and networks, and lack of records. Describes how it can be used to finance terrorism and launder money, evade tax and so on. Discusses the many...

Indicates the importance of the Informal Value Transfer System (IVTS) and hawala in particular as a means whereby immigrant workers can send remittances to their home countries, and the reasons for suspecting that these systems can be used to transfer funds which support terrorist activities....