Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/21/2013 -- Governments and regulatory bodies have taken numerous measures to curb money laundering activities in the last decade. The phenomenon has assumed increased urgency since 2008-2009 when economies across the world, developed nations in particular, were severely impacted by the financial crisis. Following the global economic slowdown, a number of regulations have been enforced; proposals for the Fourth Money Laundering Directive by the European Commission (EC) in 2013, the launch of new FATF money laundering recommendations in 2012, and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the US are key recent developments in global AML regulation. These initiatives are intended to strengthen the global AML regulatory environment and increase pressure on financial institutions to comply.

While AML compliance in North America and Europe is highly developed, it is yet to reach these standards in a number of emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America. While many countries in these regions have formulated AML regulations in the past, effective enforcement by local regulators has been the key challenge. However, governments and regulatory bodies in these nations have demonstrated their interest in bringing their AML compliance in line with international standards. Limited regulatory enforcement and rising money laundering activity have compelled global financial institutions in these economies to take a proactive approach to improve their AML processes, such as know your customer (KYC) and customer due diligence (CDD).

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Key Highlights

- The rapid growth of money laundering and other illicit activities has become a major issue for governments and financial institutions across the world.
- Fighting money laundering has become a priority for governments and other international bodies, which are increasingly concerned about the consequences of these illicit activities on corporate governance and business operations in the financial sector, as well as the overall fundamentals of the world economy.
- Governments and regulatory bodies across the world have been tightening regulations to combat money laundering. Economies such as the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, Japan and Singapore have strong AML regulations in place, while Canada, Brazil, Russia, India and China are taking initiatives to introduce AML regulations.
- Financial institutions face a number of operational and technological challenges due to changes in regulations. These entail increased regulatory complexity and improvements in IT systems, documentation and record keeping. Reduced customer privacy is also expected to be a rising concern, due to increasing disclosure and information sharing requirements.

Scope

- This report provides an overview of AML awareness levels and the level of regulatory enforcement in countries across various regions

Companies Mentioned in this Report: Tokyo Mitsubishi-UFJ, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Atlas One Financial Group, Firstrade Securities, Inc., World Trade Financial Corporation, EFG Private Bank, Wegelin & Co., UBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank Central Asia, Capital Bank

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