Why choose a career in anti money laundering (AML)? Find out below what AML is, and what employers are looking for to help you secure a job in this field.
At ICA, we have a range of training and qualifications to support you as you embark upon or look to progress in your AML career.
Financial criminals and fraudsters are always evolving, and those that fight money laundering need to evolve with them. With new methods of money laundering come greater risks, to business, economies, and the victims of FinCrime. There are many different career paths and anti money laundering jobs that help to combat this fraud, such as:
Money laundering is the generic term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of criminal conduct, by making such proceeds appear to have derived from a legitimate source.
The processes by which criminally derived property may be laundered are extensive. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, the reality is that hundreds of billions of dollars of criminally derived money is laundered through financial institutions, annually. The nature of the services and products offered by the financial services industry (namely managing, controlling and possessing money and property belonging to others) means that it is vulnerable to abuse by money launderers.
Money laundering offences have similar characteristics globally. There are two key elements to a money laundering offence:
The act of laundering is committed in circumstances where a person is engaged in an arrangement (i.e. by providing a service or product) which involves the proceeds of crime. These arrangements include a wide variety of business relationships, (e.g. banking, fiduciary and investment management).
The requisite degree of knowledge or suspicion will depend upon the specific offence, but it will usually be present where the person providing the arrangement, service or product, knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect, that the property involved in the arrangement represents the proceeds of crime. In some cases, the offence may also be committed where a person knows or suspects that the person with whom they are dealing with is engaged in, or has benefitted from, criminal conduct.
Different jurisdictions define crime predicating the offence of money laundering in different ways. Generally, the differences between the definitions may be summarised as follows:
In practice, almost all serious crimes – including drug trafficking, terrorism, fraud, robbery, prostitution, illegal gambling, arms trafficking, bribery and corruption – are capable of predicating money laundering offences in most jurisdictions.
The answer depends upon the definition of crime contained within the money laundering legislation of a particular jurisdiction.
Tax evasion and other fiscal offences are treated as predicate money laundering crimes in most of the world’s most effectively regulated jurisdictions.
The objective of the criminalisation of money laundering is to take the profit out of crime. The rationale for the creation of the offence is that it is wrong for individuals and organisations to assist criminals to benefit from the proceeds of their criminal activity or to facilitate the commission of such crimes by providing financial services to them.
The list of money laundering processes is extensive. Generally speaking, money is laundered whenever a person or business deals in any way with another person’s benefit from crime. That can occur in a countless number of different ways.
Traditionally, money laundering has been described as a process which takes place in three distinct stages.
This three-staged definition of money laundering is highly simplistic. The reality is that the so- called stages often overlap and in some cases, for example in cases of financial crimes, there is no requirement for the proceeds of crime to be ‘placed’.
The challenge of managing money laundering risks in a global marketplace is one that demands a co-ordinated approach and a common understanding of evolving and emerging trends in both regulation and criminal activity.
It is important for any AML professional to recognise, develop and maintain a risk-based and comprehensive anti money laundering/counter terrorist financing framework to mitigate and prevent the threat. Understanding your customers (Customer Due Diligence) and responses such as reporting suspicious activity are also vital tools in your AML armoury.
