A joint blog by Kateryna Boguslavska, Basel Institute on Governance and Maria Nizzero, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
Effectively tackling illicit finance and money laundering is crucial to the integrity not only of financial systems, but of democratic societies. And alongside fresh ideas and commitments on fighting financial crimes, we need faster progress on existing ones.
This is the 11th Public Edition of the Basel AML Index.
The Basel AML Index is an independent annual ranking that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) around the world.
Published by the Basel Institute on Governance since 2012, it provides risk scores based on data from 18 publicly available sources such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Transparency International, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. The risk scores cover five domains:
The final recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia (‘the Commission’) urged the government to legislate an unexplained wealth order (‘UWO’) as part of a wider approach to counter the prevalence of money laundering and proceeds of crime in the province.
This document analyses the feasibility of this recommendation. It:
“Money laundering is a significant problem requiring strong and decisive action,” concluded Honourable Austin F. Cullen in the final report of his widely discussed Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia in June 2022.
Progress in addressing money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks remains paralysed in many countries, according to the latest release of the Basel AML Index.
The Basel AML Index is an independent ranking that assesses countries’ ML/TF risks and capacity to counter them. It draws on 18 indicators in five domains measuring different factors that contribute to high ML/TF risks.
The Basel AML Index – the Basel Institute’s global money laundering index and risk assessment tool – is adding environmental crime data to its set of indicators of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk. The data will come from the Global Organized Crime Index.
In February 2020, Uganda made a high-level political commitment to work with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) to strengthen the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering (AML) regime. Among other commitments, Uganda undertook to demonstrate that law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities apply the money laundering offence consistent with the identified risks.
This quick guide explains the role of national risk assessments in addressing money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks.
It explains how national risk assessments are conducted, challenges in terms of methodology and data availability, and how well countries are doing at performing them.
NRAs are a critical element of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on ML/TF. They also provide data in special reports of the Basel AML Index.
A newly amended law in the Seychelles will enable our partners at the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles (ACCS) to more effectively prosecute corruption and associated money laundering cases, as well as to seize and confiscate proceeds of crime.
The Wolfsberg Group – an association of 13 global banks that develops frameworks and guidance to manage financial crime risks – became an independent legal entity in October 2021. Its new home is at the Basel Institute on Governance headquarters in Switzerland.