Global Financial Crime Review Archives

December 2020 - February 2021, Global Financial Crime Review

Zambia’s Evolving AML/CTF Landscape

December 22, 2020December 23, 2020 /Leave a comment

In 2010, an article was published in the December-February issue of ACAMS Today, titled “Financial intelligence unit—The Zambian case.” At that time, the Zambian government had just announced its intentions to establish a financial intelligence unit (FIU), implying there was no FIU in Zambia....

ACAMS Connection, December 2020 - February 2021, Global Financial Crime Review, Issues

Hindsight for the U.S. in 2020

December 22, 2020December 22, 2020 /1 Comment

Not only will 2020 go down as one of the most difficult years in world history due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the approach to anti-financial crime (AFC) was also fundamentally altered. COVID-19 created new and increased opportunities for criminals to engage in money...

Global Financial Crime Review, September 2020 - November 2020

Risky Crypto Remittances in the Philippines

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 /Leave a comment

Remittances are an essential part of the global economy, particularly in developing economies.1 In the Philippines, overseas remittances formed 10.2% of the country’s GDP in 2018.2 Over 65% of the domestic population, made up of 109 million people, is unbanked.3 Given the cliché in...

Global Financial Crime Review, September 2020 - November 2020

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s Fight Against Corruption

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 /Leave a comment

Georgia is a small country in the South Caucasus. In the hills of Tbilisi, a statue of Kartlis Deda (Mother Georgia), stands vigilant, holding a sword to deter foes and a bowl of wine to welcome friends. Unfortunately, Kartlis Deda was unable to defend...

Global Financial Crime Review, September 2020 - November 2020

Venezuela—Blink and You May Miss It

October 5, 2020 /Leave a comment

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the best and worst of what governments can do for their citizens. Some nations’ leaders and governmental systems have worked to ensure that the least among their populace can generally survive and (hopefully) thrive with some assistance; others have...

Caribbean Catch-Up, Global Financial Crime Review, June - August 2020

Bahamas AML Global Research Conference: Weighing AML Costs vs. Benefits

July 7, 2020 /Leave a comment

On January 22 and 23, 2020, the Central Bank of the Bahamas hosted an inaugural global research conference focusing on empirical approaches to anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime prevention. This conference’s creation was supported by the Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank...

Global Financial Crime Review, June - August 2020

Improving Panama’s AML Framework

July 7, 2020 /Leave a comment

As of June 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Panama on its list of high-risk jurisdictions with strategic anti-money laundering (AML) deficiencies (what is commonly referred to as the FATF greylist). Despite Panama’s progress to strengthen its AML regulatory framework, the country...

ACAMS Today Europe, Global Financial Crime Review, May 2020 - June 2020

Wildlife: The Underreported Illegal Trade

June 3, 2020July 1, 2020 /Leave a comment

Although anti-money laundering (AML) investigations are ever evolving, one major source of illegal profit internationally remains largely underreported—wildlife trafficking. Wildlife trafficking is a major illegal trade1 and an environmental crime that is estimated to generate between seven billion US dollars and 23 billion US dollars...

Global Financial Crime Review, Special for the Web

2020 UN North Korea Panel of Experts Report: Takeaways for Financial Institutions

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 /Leave a comment

Since mid-April, speculations about dire health or even death of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, intensified. His absence from the public eye for several weeks and reports about Chinese medical doctors traveling to Pyongyang fueled the rumor mill. With the North Korean leader having...

Caribbean Catch-Up, Exclusive, Global Financial Crime Review, March - May 2020

Utilizing the Three Lines of AML Defense Protocols

March 10, 2020May 5, 2020 /Leave a comment

While I am not a football fan myself, I know that there are lines of defense and each team is trying to prevent the other side from making a touchdown. Similarly, in financial services there are also lines of defense. The entire financial services...

ACAMS Today

The Magazine for Career-minded Professionals in the Anti-Money Laundering Field

Project Shadow: Ending the Online Exploitation of Children

Shake, Bake and Launder

2020 Visions

Project Shadow: AML Investigations Into Online Child Sexual Exploitation

Ghost in the Machine

Global Financial Crime Review

Zambia’s Evolving AML/CTF Landscape

Hindsight for the U.S. in 2020

Risky Crypto Remittances in the Philippines

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s Fight Against Corruption

Venezuela—Blink and You May Miss It

Bahamas AML Global Research Conference: Weighing AML Costs vs. Benefits

Improving Panama’s AML Framework

Wildlife: The Underreported Illegal Trade

2020 UN North Korea Panel of Experts Report: Takeaways for Financial Institutions

Utilizing the Three Lines of AML Defense Protocols