It’s no privately held belief that our collective anti-money laundering (AML) endeavors are failing. Even with multiple laws, regulations, rules, and guidance that work alongside armies of AML professionals funded with billions of dollars, we continue to seize less than 1 percent of funds laundered. Some parties ponder how and where can we improve.
Every year there is an increase in the number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted to the authorities. The more SARs filed may mean there is less likelihood authorities will have the capacity and resources to act on the intelligence provided. Public sector resources devoted to the processing, evaluating, and actioning of SARs have not increased at the same rate.
