Shell companies can be a legitimate entity but can also been used for illicit activities such as money laundering. Users of shell companies have included illegal arms dealers, drug cartels, terrorists and cyber-criminals, as well as legitimate businesses. To assist in distinguishing between...

The rapid evolution of global trade offers great productivity gains to participating countries but also raises the likelihood of losing domestic resources through trade-based money laundering. This paper empirically examined whether trade-based money laundering affects domestic resource...

This paper examines the role of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and compliance in combating money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) in Canada. AML regulations establish guidelines for financial institutions to identify, prevent, and report suspicious activities. However,...

The rise in the volume of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) across the world is triggering calls from the Global South to mitigate the deleterious consequences of both IFFs and tax abuse on their economies. Using a Third World Approaches to International Law lens, this article analyses the politics...

Africa is one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in the world, with its crypto transactions peaking at $20 billion per month in mid-2021, with Nigeria contributing to the world's third largest bitcoin-holding. Evidence continues to grow, showcasing criminals who seek to use cryptocurrencies...

The last five years have seen immense growth in the Nigerian financial services sphere, particularly with the introduction of innovative ways to make, trade and exchange money in a largely unregulated sphere. One of such developments is virtual assets which has opened up a lot of doors in the...

Approximately sixty percent of German goods exports are transported via sea freight. The international shipping industry is dominated by firms registered in offshore centers with little transparency. Criminals feel invited to abuse these opaque constructions for laundering their illegally...

In this paper, we investigate the impact of religion on the money laundering risk, focusing specifically on Protestantism compared to other religions. Protestantism is often associated with greater individual self-discipline and stronger institutional economic governance. Analysing data from 27...

The first and second Eurojust meetings on Money Laundering and Asset Recovery took place on 19- 20 June 2023 and on 20-21 June 2024. The meetings brought together prosecutors specialised in asset recovery and tackling money laundering from the European Union and countries with liaison...

The rise in financial fraud has prompted regulatory proposals under the Payment Services Regulation in the form of a shared liability model provisioned under Article 59. The potential proposal by the European Parliament could now extend liability beyond Payment Service Providers to Electronic...

This study aims to assess the feasibility of providing a unique access point for competent authorities involved in the fight against money laundering and tax evasion to relevant asset registers in the EU Member States. The study first defines a list of assets relevant for money laundering and...

This study assesses the feasibility of setting up a single access point to relevant asset registries in the EU Member States for competent authorities involved in the fight against money laundering and tax evasion. It first defines the relevant assets for money laundering and tax evasion, maps...

The 2023 Investigations Activity Report highlights our commitment to integrity and transparency in all our activities. The European Investment Bank Group (EIB) is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and has a zero-tolerance policy for any prohibited conduct. The Group's...

This paper aims to examine the influence of controlling corruption, tax burden reduction, price stability and trade liberalization on trade-related illicit financial flows. The analysis focuses on a sample of 120 developing and emerging countries, drawn from data collected over the period...

This report summarizes findings and recommendations from a Fund CD mission in Uganda from August 28 to September 1, 2023, in response to a request from the Bank of Uganda (BoU), focusing on AML/CFT measures. Key areas of focus included reviewing the legal and regulatory frameworks, developing...

This paper uses the rare opportunity of the first ever criminal conviction in the UK of a bank for breaches of AML Regulations (NatWest) to examine the AML framework. The article investigates whether the current framework and enforcement are working in addressing the breaches. The article...

Indonesia has been actively developing anti-money laundering (AML) strategies for the past two decades, but a critical gap remains in the informal financial sector that has not received greater regulatory attention. Remarkably, this sector contributes to over half of Indonesia's GDP, with...

Debanking became a news story in 2023 when Nigel Farage alleged that Coutts had closed his account because its executives disapproved of his political opinions. A study by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed that such ideologically motivated account closures are vanishingly rare....

Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) - such as corruption and money laundering - have a significant negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights. Combating IFF is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG 16 explicitly promulgates the relation between the rule of law,...

Money laundering and reverse money laundering, also known as terrorism financing, have emerged as critical issues in the 21st century, posing threats to security, economic stability, and the integrity of financial systems. This article explores the growing use of anonymous shell companies as a...

The banking sector of three Baltic countries, i.e., Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, was abused by money laundering scandals between 2018 and 2020. The Danske Bank scandal was the largest one and, combined with the other scandals, inevitably triggered a heavy critique of national anti-money...

When Russia attacked Ukraine, national states as well as multinational bodies such as the European Union imposed economic sanctions against Russia. Companies in sanctioning countries were expected to terminate their business with companies in the sanctioned country. However, the threat of...

Panama has struggled to bring its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime in line with international standards, resulting in periods of being “grey listed” by the international standard-setter, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Panama’s AML/CFT...

"Illicit financial flows (IFFs) associated with commodity trade erode the tax base of resource-rich developing countries. Efforts to curb IFFs and reform taxation stumble over enhanced North-South tensions but remain crucial to helping poorer countries mobilise domestic resources for...

The current review systematically synthesizes existing literature to provide a comprehensive overview of the nature of financial crimes in Africa and their impact on economic growth. We adopted the PRISMA protocol to identify 128 papers from the Scopus database; which were analyzed using MS...

This report summarizes the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in place in the Virgin Islands (VI) as at the date of the onsite visit of March 15-30, 2023. It analyses the level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 Recommendations...

We study how terminated correspondent banking relationships affect international trade. Drawing on firm-level export data from emerging Europe, we show that when local banks lose access to correspondent services, their corporate clients experience significant export declines. This trade...

The study characterizes financial monitoring as part of the system for preventing and counteracting the legalization of income and the financing of terrorism. The purpose of the research is to study the experience of how national financial monitoring systems function (in the UK, USA, China,...