What You Need To Know About Anti Money Laundering?: A Checklist For AML Compliance

Money laundering has been in existence for over decades now. Whether it is an economy or business organisations, money laundering can breach security and confidentiality. With AML or Anti Money laundering services, the practices of money laundering can be prevented.

What is Anti Money Laundering?

Anti-money laundering is a set of rules and regulation to prevent the illegal acquisition of the legal income. It covers a limited region of criminal activities and illegal transactions. For instance, AML asks banks and other financial institutions that are giving credit to customers to create a deposit account that ensures the probability of money laundering. There are Anti-money laundering compliance officers who are hired to check up on the AML policies and see whether the banks and financial institutions are abiding by it.

What Is The Different Between AML And KYC?

AML and KYC are closely related terms when it comes to money laundering. Know Your Customers or KYC is a part of AML that helps in preventing the money laundering processes. Several benefits of KYC eventually helps in AML compliance. KYC verifies the identity of the client and ensures the veracity of the transaction.

Often AML and KYC are used interchangeably that makes it difficult to ascertain the difference. Basically, AML is a broad term that includes a range of processes that are meant to meet the AML compliance set. It includes KYC compliance as a vital component of the AML framework. Many third-party companies can provide you with anti-money laundering services and KYC solutions under one roof.

What Constitute The AML Compliance Set?

Anti-money laundering is nothing without efficient anti-money laundering programs that ensure AML compliance. Let’s learn more about some important terms related to anti-money laundering compliance act.

Anti Money Laundering Fundamentals

Just like any other set of rules, AML also has some fundamentals that you need to be aware of.

  • Written Policies: These are the written rules and regulation of AML compliance. It is essential to look into the policies for better compliance carefully.
  • Compliance Officer: An AML compliance officer is a responsible person that look over whether the rules and regulations are being followed to prevent money laundering.
  • Training: Employees who are dealing with customer transactions need to be given the training to understand the legal requirements.

Anti-Money Laundering Red Flags

It is essential to understand that AML compliance is all about detecting legal activities. Some several red flags or indications states the illegality of the money. Below are such red flags of money laundering-:

  • Huge transactions in cash
  • Increase in amount and cash transactions
  • Transactions related to gambling
  • Transactions with a record of previous money laundering practice
  • Transaction of potentials or suspected money launderers.
  • Transaction with a large amount

Anti-Money Laundering Screening

The ideal way to reduce the risk of money laundering is to detect the issue at an early stage. Anti-money laundering investigation or screening is a process of identity verification that reduces the chances of fraudulent practices and the risk of breaching the compliance set. KYC solutions are one of the effective ways to conduct identity verification of the customers who are conducting the transaction.

KYC simply filters the veracity of a customer to identify the identity of the customer and the real source of the funds. Once a customer is found faulty during the KYC process, the access to the transaction is blocked immediately to prevent the bypass of the funds. AML screening collects information from different sources to conduct a thorough search. It involves information coming from government sources and international law enforcement agencies.

Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring

The compliance is not complete even after the screening. There is a constant need for monitoring to keep an eye on the practices. AML monitoring is the process of analysing of the activities to ensure that everything is going in compliance. Several activities are used to monitor the activities and keep track of suspicious activities. After the AML KYC rules are met, financial institutions have to continually monitor the new customers to prevent any chances of money laundering or illegal transfer of the funds.  

Conclusion

Anti-money laundering has fastened the rules and made it quite strenuous for criminals to practice money laundering. It is a set of laws and regulations that help in preventing money laundering from hindering the financial system. Another important thing that you need to understand about AML is that it is a core and critical part of a functioning and fair society.

AML compliance has become more of a fundamental requirement than an option. The anti-money laundering compliance officer makes sure that all the banks and financial institutions are compliant to the AML.

The above mentioned were some of the essential terms you need to be aware of the Anti-money laundering compliance.

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