Switzerland is the world leader in gold refining. Of the roughly 2,200–3,100 tonnes of raw gold imported into the country each year, the majority is destined for Swiss gold refineries. Together these companies are estimated to refine 50–70 percent of the world’s gold production, transforming it into gold bars, semi-finished products and other goods.
Congratulations to our partners in Malawi on the launch of the new Malawi National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS II).
We are delighted to have been able to contribute our multi-disciplinary expertise to what we believe is a state-of-the-art anti-corruption strategy that will have real impact on corruption in Malawi over the next five years.
The Basel Institute's latest Working Paper explores whether, why and how gold refiners can be further integrated in efforts to prevent and combat money laundering in Switzerland. The author, Stefan Mbiyavanga, explains the background and what motivated him to write it, including pending reforms in the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Kateryna Boguslavska, Project Manager of the Basel AML Index, spoke at the 12th European Conference on Tax Advisers’ Professional Affairs on 29 November 2019 in Paris. The conference was hosted by CFE Tax Advisers Europe and the Institut des Avocats Conseils Fiscaux (IACF).
Pakistan has jumped up the Basel AML Index, the Basel Institute’s independent, data-based index of the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) around the world. The country’s risk score rose from 6.45 to 7.66 out of 10, where 10 equals the highest assessed risk of ML/TF.
This paper discusses anti- money laundering regulation for virtual currency intermediaries, by showcasing and comparing regulatory models at the national and international levels.
In collaboration with the Basel Institute on Governance, the Competence Centre for Arbitration and Crime at the University of Basel is planning a high-level workshop that brings together arbitrators, lawyers, forensics, academics, students and representatives of NGOs from around the world.
Basel Institute senior advisor and former board member Hans-Peter Bauer presented at the Baltic AML Forum on 2 October on the topic of Country Risk Assessment - A Difficult Task.
The Forum was opened by the Lithuanian Minister of Finance and attended by 150 participants, who were mainly compliance officers and tech experts from Baltic-region banks, FinTech companies and cryptocurrency ventures.
In 2019, Estonia achieved the lowest risk score out of the 125 countries in the Public Edition of the Basel AML Index, 2.68 out of 10. In fact, Estonia has consistently been among the top performers since 2012, when the Basel AML index was first calculated.
During 2018 and 2019, the world has faced serious money laundering scandals involving reputable institutions. Surprisingly, abuses of financial systems were uncovered in countries that have low risk scores in the Basel AML Index, like Estonia and Sweden.