Money laundering and illicit financial flows (IFFs) are amongst several concerns raised by petitioners who have triggered a five-judge bench of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court to examine several petitions filed against the US$1.4 billion China-funded Colombo Port City Commission… Read More ›

China
China set to tighten beneficial ownership reporting requirements for financial institutions
China’s financial authorities look set to issue stricter compliance procedures for establishing the beneficial ownership of all account holders after opening a public consultation process on draft customer due diligence regulations for financial institutions. The draft regulations contemplate requiring financial… Read More ›
Two arrested in US$225 million fake software TBML scam
India’s Enforcement Directorate has arrested two more people allegedly involved in a US$225 million trade-based money-laundering (TBML) operation based on importing what purported to be customised software. Investigators however discovered that the software was fake but provided the accused with… Read More ›
Banks struggle as pandemic exposes opportunities for fraud says Bolero chief
The CEO of trade finance digitisation provider Bolero has written an article on risk mitigation in which he says that opportunities for fraud exposed by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic add weight to a growing body of opinion in… Read More ›
Merchants and traders swap currencies in ‘most sophisticated’ ever form of money laundering
The Reuters news agency has highlighted a case of what one US source familiar with the investigation described as “the most sophisticated form of money laundering that’s ever existed”. The way such operations work involve legitimate merchants and traders, sometimes… Read More ›
US defence bill orders study and strategy on TBML
The National Defence Authorisation Act 2021 has directed the US treasury department to conduct a study and devise a strategy to deal with trade-based money laundering (TBML). The study, which will be contracted out to a third-party entity, will include… Read More ›
US treasury to focus on TBML in money laundering study and strategy for China
The US treasury has been ordered to carry out a study on money laundering by China that will “rely substantially” on information obtained through the trade-based money laundering (TBML) analyses behind the US Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) detailed report that… Read More ›
GFI announces cloud-based tool to detect misinvoicing
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the Washington-based non-profit best known for its work researching and lobbying to prevent illicit financial flows, has developed a cloud-based risk assessment application to detect misinvoicing. GFTrade provides accurate results efficiently, consistently and with minimal training… Read More ›