Resource Center

Cross-border payments are vital for economic growth, international trade, global development and financial inclusion. Yet they are generally slower, more expensive, less transparent and less accessible than domestic payments. These long-standing issues have been thrown into sharp relief by improvements in domestic payments and by developers of proposals for new payment arrangements.

The G20 has made enhancing cross-border payments a priority during the 2020 Saudi Arabian Presidency. Faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive cross-border payment services would deliver widespread benefits for citizens and economies worldwide, supporting economic growth, international trade, global development and financial inclusion.

The applied literature on illicit (“dirty”) money flows increasingly uses gravity equations as a workable empirical strategy to control for characteristics of both “source” and “destination” countries. This literature lacks […]

This paper investigates the relationship between money laundering and economic growth in Trinidad and Tobago. It utilizes annual secondary time series data for the period 1990 to 2017. The proxy […]

In the global framework for managing and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks, a risk-based approach (RBA) requires the adjustment of the implementation of measures in proportion to […]

This paper documents a hidden cost of anti-money laundering policies. We show that a policy implemented in Colombia reduced bank deposits in high intensity drug trafficking areas, causing banks that […]

Special sorts of conditions must exist for the creation of the special sort of criminal that he typified. I have tried to define those conditions–but unsuccessfully. All I do know […]

Via a global field experiment and associated audit study, this project tests the effectiveness of international rules mandating that banks screen out criminals’ money from the financial system. The global […]

Research on money laundering and anti-money laundering (AML) leads to common frustrations about data. Judging the effectiveness or efficiency of different interventions is impossible without reliable evidence, yet in such […]

The collection of data is an essential element of every methodology. For the Basel AML Index, the ability to collect and analyse data on issues related to money laundering and […]

This paper empirically examines corporate money laundering/gambling activities from a financial perspective – the impact of money laundering/gambling on firms’ financial performance. We specifically address whether the firms associated with […]

Financial ties between countries provide the foundation for international trade, yet international cooperation on trade and finance remain largely separate from each other. This paper examines a key consequence of […]

Financial institutions employ multiple resources to combat financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorism financing. Automated systems use combinations of rules or scenarios, value thresholds, peer group activity, rolling […]

Over recent years, de-risking practices threaten to cut off access to the global financial system for local banks in various regions of the world, therefore, it is essential to assess […]

The paradox of geography continues to explain much of the opportunities and challenges facing the 20-member states and territories that comprise the Caribbean Community today, including those occasioned by the […]

Many stakeholders in the global anti-money laundering (AML) space, including correspondent banks, rely upon explicit or de facto AML sovereign rating services. This reliance is similar to that reposed by […]

The embeddedness of the Russian economy in a complex network of offshore financial centres is well-documented in academic research and official statistics. For more than two decades, Cyprus has served […]

This Policy Brief argues that inclusion on any future adopted European Union (EU) AML/CFT list of high-risk third jurisdictions would be problematic for The Bahamas for three main reasons. First, […]

This paper investigates the patterns of business ownership in Europe, using a unique dataset on the nationality of 28.7 million shareholders of companies registered in 41 European countries. By means […]

Background The XLVII CFATF Plenary, in May 2018, gave approval for a stocktaking exercise on ‘De-risking’ in the Caribbean region to be conducted. The outstanding factors to address this exercise […]