Global Bank Regulation

Chapter 13

Anti-Money Laundering

Banks are often an important part of a crime story. A bank customer who writes a check without sufficient funds in his or her account commits a crime that may require a bank to respond to a subpoena for the bank’s records of the customer’s transactions. News of a bank robbery is often the lead story on the evening news. Yet these types of crimes do not generally raise alarm bells among bank supervisors: a bank has the power to dishonor a check drawn on insufficient funds, and bank robbers do not usually make away with much cash (except in the movies). Money laundering, however, has the potential to damage the reputation of a financial institution and is, therefore, of greater supervisory concern.

Supervisors refer ...