Insurers and Regulator Collaborate on Sustainable Anti-money Laundring Strategy

Business Continuity Management is inextricably linked to the Risk Management - one is the consequence of the other. Where Business continuity Management (including Planning and Testing) comes into force is through impact.

- Jagendra Kumar

Anti-money laundering (AML) has been a hot topic, and an intensifying regulatory pain point, for financial institutions for decades. Money laundering is a type of financial crime. It involves taking criminally obtained proceeds (dirty money) and disguising their origins so they appear to be from a legitimate source. Anti-money laundering (AML) refers to the activities financial institutions perform to achieve compliance with legal requirements to actively monitor for and report suspicious activities. The United States was one of the first nations to enact anti-money laundering legislation when it established the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in 1970. An early effort to detect and prevent money laundering, the BSA has since been amended and strengthened by additional anti-money laundering laws.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is now the designated administrator of the BSA - with a mission to "safeguard the financial system from the abuses of financial crime, including terrorist financing, money laundering and other illicit activity The estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year is 2% to 5% of global GDP, or US$800 billion to US$2 trillion - and that's a low estimate. Money laundering often accompanies activities like smuggling, illegal arms sales, embezzlement, insider trading, bribery and computer fraud schemes. It's also common with organized crime including human, arms or drug trafficking, and prostitution rings.