Money Lanudering

1. Introduction
The global anti-money laundering (AML) supervision and regulation system was first
designed as the product of the failure of “war on drugs” in European countries and the
USA in 1960-1970s. When direct arrest and seizure of the drug crimes stuck,
countermeasures are shifted to using the “follow the money” theory, and adopting the
strategy of “from street to financial institutions” to search the criminal proceeds
generated from drug crimes. Coupled with the enactment of the Bank Secrecy Act of
1970 in the USA, the hundred years’ custom of protecting client secrecy has been
completely changed in the wholeWestern countries, and the new era of re-regulation in
financial institutions and application of information disclosure policy has been launched
since then. The September 11 attacks, in addition, acted as milestone events in the
history of the international AML evolution. The tragedy taught a lesson that a universal
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1368-5201.htm
Combating
money
laundering
215
Journal of Money Laundering Control
Vol. 13 No. 3, 2010
pp. 215-225
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1368-5201
DOI 10.1108/13685201011057127
network of combating money laundering and terrorism financing should be built up, and
correspondingly, a set of legislative movements surrounding increasing transparency in
financial institutions as well as updating domestic AML legislation have been led by the
United Nations during the last decades. Calculated until December 2008, 180 countries
and territories of the world have criminalized money laundering offences under the
domestic law, and 107 countries and territories of the world have joined the Egmont
Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
Developed countries in Europe and the USA have been serving as the designers and
standard setters of AML systems since the late 1980s. These jurisdictions have matured
legislative... [continues]

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