Enhancing Contributions To Combating Money Laundering Policy Paper

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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.

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The staff report provides an overview of the Fund's AML/CFT program, since the last review conducted in 2014 and seeks the endorsement of the Executive Board to continue on the basis of the directions given in 2014, with one minor adjustment proposed in relation to Fund-led AML/CFT assessments.

Examining the challenges of using the global anti-money laundering (AML) framework in an uneven global regulatory landscape, this book discusses the difficulties of relating de-regulation, liberalization and conflict of laws to the dynamics of the market economy and demonstrates how the global environment engenders money laundering. It suggests that corruption, general systemic failure and lack of infrastructural capacity in some developing economies are hampering the implementation of laws and regulations. Suggesting that these challenges can be overcome by designing AML regimes more suited to developing economies within the prevailing global climate, the book questions the assumption that that global regimes will be applicable and emphasises the need for more representation of developing economies on the relevant committees. This book is the first of its kind to present the perspective of developing economies and their involvement in AML regimes and should be of interest to those involved in business and commercial law as well as comparative law.

In an environment in which growth and employment prospects in many countries remain subdued and a number of high-profile corruption cases have fueled moral outrage, and amid a growing consensus that corruption can seriously undermine a country’s ability to deliver inclusive economic growth in a number of different areas, addressing corruption globally—in both developed and developing countries—has become increasingly urgent. When corruption impairs government functions, it can adversely affect a number of important determinants of economic performance, including macrofinancial stability, investment, human capital accumulation, and total factor productivity. Moreover, when systemic corruption affects virtually all state functions, distrust of government can become so pervasive that it can lead to violence, civil strife, and conflict, with devastating social and economic implications. This Staff Discussion Note focuses on corruption that arises from the abuse of public office for private gain, whether it manifests itself transactionally (for example, a bribe) or through powerful networks between business and government that effectively result in the privatization of public policy. While designing and implementing an anticorruption strategy requires change on many different levels, the IMF's experience in assisting member countries suggests that several elements need to be given priority: transparency, rule of law, and economic reform policies designed to eliminate excessive regulation. Perhaps most important, however, addressing corruption requires building effective institutions, with the clear objective of developing a competent civil service that takes pride in being independent of both private influence and public interference.

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.

This is the third edition of this publication which explores key issues in the fast evolving field of money laundering and terrorist financing, and which has been restructured so as to fully reflect the high international priority given to tackling the financing of terrorism since September 2001. It takes into account recent developments such as the revised recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), as agreed in June 2003; pan-European responses and the 2001 EU Directive; and recent initiatives taken by the United Nations, FATF, the Organization of American States and other organisations. The publication is designed for a wide audience, including government officials and regulators, officials in banks and non-banking financial institutions, professions such as lawyers and accountants, academics and students.