Unger, Brigitte --- "Money laundering regulation: from Al Capone to Al Qaeda" [2013] ELECD 907; in Unger, Brigitte; van der Linde, Daan (eds), "Research Handbook on Money Laundering" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 19

Book Title: Research Handbook on Money Laundering

Editor(s): Unger, Brigitte; van der Linde, Daan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857933997

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Money laundering regulation: from Al Capone to Al Qaeda

Author(s): Unger, Brigitte

Number of pages: 14

Abstract/Description:

Global regulation of money laundering became an issue only in the late 1990s as a consequence of the liberalization of financial markets, which attracted both legal and illegal capital. The fact that laundering is a global phenomenon which is not directly harmful, and has no direct negative effects on society or business nor is the scale of it known, is a big challenge to the regulators. As a consequence, the support from business and society for a regulatory policy is weak. Laundering regulation was mainly the result of a failed US war on drugs which turned into a fight to reclaim the proceeds of crime. The Financial Action Task Force implemented this regulation by setting international standards and by blacklisting. In the EU hard law was used. Regulation switched from a rule-based to a risk-based approach, but even this is not well supported. Laundering regulation is still a public policy centered within nation states, however it is slowly becoming an issue of global governance where private organizations and the need for legitimacy are assuming more importance.