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上传时间: 2014-08-31 浏览次数:593次
Will Anti-Money Laundering Efforts Work Against the Islamic State?
Sun, Aug 31, 2014
The Islamic State runs a self-sustaining economy that makes it one of the world’s richest terrorist groups, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
It’s going to be a challenge for traditional anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing systems to track funds tied to the group.
“I’m not actually sure if anyone knows whether [the group’s money] is in the formal financial system,” said John Cassara, a former U.S. Treasury special agent and author of “Demons of Gadara,” a novel on terror finance. The group may well keep its money in cash or gold and use “hawalas,” or private money transfer businesses, to move funds, said Mr. Cassara.
All of that would make the typical efforts banks employ to track suspected terrorist funds and report them to U.S. regulators less fruitful. The bottom line: tracking Islamic State money is going to be “a challenge,” he said.
Still, “Islamic State may nonetheless need services that require access to the formal financial system,” said Chip Poncy, a founding partner at Financial Integrity Network and a former top Treasury official.
That means banks should incorporate the risk of running into potential Islamic State money into their compliance strategies. They should evaluate any correspondent bank accounts or other dealings in the regions where Islamic State operates in order to manage the risks that the group presents, he said.
Although top Islamic State leaders may not be opening bank accounts in their own names, banks should be on the lookout for “operatives, agents, and front companies” that could be opening accounts that support the group, Mr. Poncy said.