A new era for combatting illicit finance

摘要

TUCKED INTO THE MASSIVE $740bn defence spending bill for 2021, recently passed by the US Congress, were some of the most sweeping changes to the nation's anti-money laundering (AML) laws in a generation. Anti-corruption organisations, law enforcement officials, national security experts and leaders in the banking sector lauded the bill as an historic achievement. The reforms set the US on a course to vastly improve its ability to effectively identify and prosecute corrupt and criminal actors that seek to abuse financial systems. Currently, despite a significant investment of time and resources by government authorities and financial services firms, experts estimate that we capture less than 0.1% of the illicit cash sloshing through the world's financial system. As Raymond Baker of the Washington-based think-tank Global Financial Integrity puts it, we are "a decimal point away from complete failure". In the US, approximately two million suspicious activity reports are filed each year. Estimates are that less than 0.004% have led to an investigation. For banks, it can feel like their reports are going into a black hole. The regulatory system seems antiquated. Supervision and examination of bank AML programmes may seem more about checking boxes than fighting illicit finance. The new AML law brings several promising changes to upend the old system and bring compliance into the modern era.