Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism: A Comprehensive Training Guide

Money laundering and the financing of terrorism are global problems that not only threaten a country’s security, but also compromise the stability, transparency, and efficiency of its financial system, consequently undermining its economic prosperity. The annual global estimate for money laundering is more than $1 trillion, valued in U.S. dollars. Efforts to counter these activities are known as anti–money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs. The 'Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism' training program was developed by the World Bank’s Financial Market Integrity Unit, with support from the governments of Sweden, Japan, Denmark, and Canada. The program will help countries build and strengthen their AML/CFT efforts by training all relevant staff in both the public and private sectors, such as staff in fi nancial intelligence units, financial supervisory authorities, law enforcement agencies, and financial institutions. The training guide’s modules are: Module 1: Effects on Economic Development and International Standards Module 2: Legal Requirements to Meet International Standards Module 3a: Regulatory and Institutional Requirements for AML/CFT Module 3b: Compliance Requirements for Financial Institutions Module 4: Building an Effective Financial Intelligence Unit Module 5: Domestic (Inter-Agency) and International Cooperation Module 6: Combating the Financing of Terrorism Module 7: Investigating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing The modules cover all the Financial Action Task Force on Anti–Money Laundering’s Forty Recommendations and Nine Special Recommendations, with the original texts. Each module is targeted at a specific group of professionals in a jurisdiction’s AML/CFT regime, although they may also benefit from gaining wider knowledge through the other modules included in this program. Each module provides questions at the beginning and end to assess how much has been learned. The training guide contains numerous case studies, discussions and analyses of hypothetical and actual examples of money laundering schemes, and best practices in investigation and enforcement, which will help readers fully understand the implementation of successful AML/CFT programs.