Challenge of Preventing Money Laundering
Each year in the United Kingdom, £90 billion is laundered through criminal activities. That’s more than 3.4 percent of the UK’s GDP. This remains a major problem despite new anti-money laundering measures. Part of the issue is that the term "money laundering" is used to define numerous activities. So what is money laundering exactly?
Broadly speaking, money laundering is the unlawful disguising of the amount or ownership of a given sum of money. This may include a company "washing" money through legitimate cash activities. But it can also include a single employee syphoning company money into their own accounts. Quite often, the party who's laundering money is also the one in charge of catching unscrupulous activities. Even with anti-money laundering laws, this makes detection within your own organisation very difficult.
Organisations have two major walls of defence to ensure anti-money laundering compliance: comprehensive anti-money laundering training and clear anti-money laundering policies that are easily accessible to all employees. Combined, these two safeguards give your employees the tools they need to detect and report any red flags.
Start with Anti-Money Laundering Training