Illegal logging and deforestation: money does grow on trees
Of all the environmental crimes, illegal logging (including illegal land clearing) is understood to be the most profitable. The illegal timber trade is said to account for up to 90% of tropical deforestation in some countries and attracting the
Deepfakes: Ghosts in machines and their effect on the financial world
More and more lives and behaviours are migrating online and into the digital sphere, from socialising and working to how finance is accessed and used. Developments in technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with non-face to face forms
Cybercrime: Virtual Threats, Real-World Impacts
In the old days, to rob a bank, the robbers would have had to go into the bank to hold it up and make off with the bags full of cash. Today, they can rob a bank from the
The Fault In Our SARs: The importance of realignment towards actionable intelligence
The principle of a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) is very simple - the transmission of information, typically from regulated firms, which alerts law enforcement that a certain client or activity is in some way suspicious and may indicate money
Sanctions: Understanding the Global Chessboard
Many compliance professionals are familiar with OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) and UN (United Nations) related sanctions but what is less known is that some of the measures within them are not too dissimilar to foreign policy efforts
Correspondent Banking: The financial system’s gift and curse
Correspondent Banking has been defined by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) as “…the provision of banking services by one bank (the “correspondent bank”) to another bank (the “respondent bank”)”. Larger international banks usually act as correspondents for smaller
High-Risk Third Countries: an AML challenge for the EU
The EU (European Union) has had its share of recent money laundering challenges and scandals, such as those related to Danske Bank, Swedbank, ABLV and Rabobank and while plans are under way to address shortcomings within the EU, it
Covid-19, illegal wildlife trafficking and money laundering
The illegal wildlife trade may have been perceived as a relatively low-risk avenue of illicit funds by criminal organisations, but never has the detrimental impact of the illegal wildlife trade been more dire than against the backdrop of the