Anti-money laundering is both a critical compliance and business issue. Few financial services CEOs need to be reminded that along with costly litigation, large fines and long prison sentences, successful penetration by money launderers may also cause incalculable damage to corporate reputations and professional careers. AML is not just seen as important in combating organised crime, but increasingly terrorism as well.
Many firms have responded in a piecemeal fashion as they seek to bridge gaps and comply with an ever-growing array of different national laws and regulations. Others are adopting a more reliable and sustainable strategic alternative that seeks to fully integrate AML into all business processes and controls. As a result, business may have greater assurance that AML compliance programmes are sufficiently robust to face the continuously evolving regulatory environment.
In parallel with AML, many countries are developing Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements to ensure that account holders and their transactions are subject to proper identification, verification and documented validation. The importance of KYC is further underlined by the critical need to combat identity fraud, one of the world’s fastest growing and most corrosive forms of crime.
How PwC is assisting financial services organisations
More and more companies are coming to PricewaterhouseCoopers to help them develop integrated AML controls. Our experience is drawn from more than a decade of providing risk-assessment, compliance programme design, development, training, implementation, monitoring and independent testing for AML programmes within financial services organisations worldwide.
