This second edition of the Reference Guide is a comprehensive source of practical information on how countries can fight money laundering and terrorist financing. Aimed at helping countries understand the new international standards, it discusses the problems caused by these crimes, the specific actions countries need to take to address them, and the role international organizations play in the process. The Reference Guide is a valuable tool for establishing effective regimes to successfully prevent, detect, and prosecute money laundering and terrorist financing.

"Money laundering and terrorist financing are serious crimes that affect not only those persons directly involved, but the economy as a whole. According to international standards, every bank has the obligation to know its customers and to report suspicious transactions. Although these obligations sound straightforward, they have proved challenging to implement. What information precisely has to be gathered? How should it be recorded? If and when does one have to file a suspicious transaction report? It is here that a supervisor can play a crucial role in helping supervised institutions; first, in understanding the full extent of the obligations of Customer Due Diligence and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) and, second, in ensuring that those obligations are not just words on paper but are applied in practice. Effective supervision is key to the success of a country's AML/CFT system. In this regard, field work in both developed and developing countries has shown an overall low compliance in the area of supervision of banks and other financial institutions; supervisory compliance is indeed generally lower than the average level of compliance with all Financial Action Task Force recommendations. As a result, by providing examples of good practices, this book aims to help countries better conform to international standards. In this regard, this handbook is specifically designed for bank supervisors.

The book analyses the development of international standards for countering terrorist financing from the perspective of international criminal law. It is likely to find its value for readers not only as a monograph on the financing of terrorism but also as a reference book on the operational and theoretical development of anti-money laundering strategy following 9/11. In particular, the works of main actors in this area such as the UN Security Council, Financial Action Task Force, IMF, World Bank, and APG are dealt with in depth.

Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism: A Comprehensive Training Guide has been developed by the Financial Market Integrity Unit of the World Bank to support the World Bank's Capacity Enhancement Program on AML/CFT. The modules are comprised of the following eight Modules: Module 1 - Effects on Economic Development and International Standards Module 2 - Legal Requirements to meet International Standards Module 3a - Regulatory and Institutional Requirements Module 3b - Compliance Requirements for Financial Institutions Module 4 - Building an Effective Financial Intelligence Unit Module 5 - Domestic (inter-agency) and International Cooperation Module 6 - Combating the Financing of Terrorism Module 7 - Investigating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Money laundering and terrorist financing undermine the integrity and stability of financial systems and can have a significantly adverse impact on a jurisdiction's economy. Challenges to effective supervision and prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism were exacerbated in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, with financial institutions' need for funds at times undermining vigilance as to the provenance of those funds. As such, supervisors often, and prudently, focused on coping with the crisis. Since 2009, when the first edition of this handbook was published, challenges to the integrity and stability of financial systems have continued to evolve. Money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks continue to threaten the reputations of financial institutions and entire financial sectors, exposing institutions to the possibility of severe enforcement action by public authorities or the loss of correspondent relationship facilities by their private sector counterparts. This second edition reflects the evolving challenges to the integrity and stability of financial systems, recent trends in enforcement actions by country authorities, and changes to international standards, notably an emphasis on a risk-based approach. This practical handbook supports the implementation of international standards established by the Financial Action Task Force and other bodies, * Providing examples of money-laundering and terrorist-financing supervisory frameworks in a range of countries; * Describing best practices for the supervision and enforcement of money-laundering and terrorist-financing laws and regulations; * Offering practical advice on how a particular jurisdiction might incorporate enforcement of the laws and regulations on money laundering and terrorist financing into its supervisory framework. Designed specifically for bank supervisors, this guide will also be of interest to readers working in the areas of finance, corruption prevention, law, accounting, and corporate governance.

Anti-Money Laundering is the definitive reference on money laundering and practice. First an outline will be given of the general approach taken by supra-national organisations like the United Nations and the European Council. Next the approach taken by international organisations and initiatives on the basis of the supra-national initiatives will be outlined by senior members of those organisations. A number of countries will then describe their specific prevention legislation. Countries involved will all be member-countries of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering). Finally there will be an overview to enable the reader to make a comparison between the most important topics of money laundering legislation and rules in the different countries.

This note provides guidance on the inclusion of AML/CFT issues in surveillance and financial stability assessments (FSAs). Specifically, it provides a framework for the treatment of cases where money laundering or terrorist financing (ML/TF) and related underlying crimes (i.e., “predicate crimes” or “predicate offenses”) are so serious as to threaten domestic stability, balance of payments stability, the effective operation of the International Monetary System—IMS— (in the case of Article IV surveillance), or the stability of the domestic financial system (in the case of FSAs).

The purpose of this note is to discuss the necessary anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures and provide examples of practical solutions to implement them. In June 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) noted that both the public and private sectors have made progress in the implementation of the standards for virtual assets (VA), in particular through updates to national laws and the development of solutions to assist with the travel rule. However, challenges remain; many virtual asset service providers (VASPs) are only beginning to adopt the required AML/CFT measures, a number of jurisdictions are yet to implement the standards for VA and those that have are at the early stages of developing a supervisory regime for VASPs. At the time of drafting, no country had been assessed against the new standards and many country authorities were in the process of establishing how best to incorporate the new standards in their AML/CFT framework. For these reasons, this note does not refer to specific country examples. References to specific products and projects are made for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of these initiatives. This Fintech Note is based on the FATF standards and guidance, in particular those aspects that pertain to VA and VASPs.