Money Laundering and Financial Crimes in Nigeria

This paper, therefore, presents an evaluation of the strategies and future directions of money laundering in Nigeria, as it is a ‘new’, dynamic place in which to conduct business and the financial centre of the Nigeria. It examines the various ways in which legislation and law enforcement in Nigeria are struggling with and tackling the issues and problems of money laundering in the face of organised crime and terrorism. In this paper, the concepts of money laundering and financial crimes in Nigeria, with a special focus on strategies as well as future direction of control, are explored in some depth. This work has established that Nigeria has a substantial anti-money laundering framework; however, it suffers from some weaknesses. These weaknesses are caused by the poor relationship between anti-money laundering units, the Anti-Organised Crime Department of the Nigeria police, the financial sector and the Central Bank of Nigeria. This situation is particularly evident when it comes to sharing information on those suspected of money laundering in Nigeria. The ‘lack of a  relationship’ is illustrated by primary research, as is the fact that other nations have (that is the UK) developed a more intelligence-led approach and partnerships in their quest to prevent money laundering where possible in their jurisdiction. This paper highlights the progress that is needed in Nigeria and the Nigerian to prevent money laundering, and as such is an original contribution to knowledge in an under-researched field in the Nigeria.

Exploring the business benefits of regulatory compliance: the case of AML/CFT systems for banking institutions in Malaysia

It has been widely accepted that the banking industry is highly dependent on information technology (IT). Due to its pervasiveness and intertwining nature in most aspects of banking business, IT has also significantly become one of the critical components that facilitate the ability of banking institutions to meet regulatory requirements in an efficient and a cost-effective way. For instance, in the effort to mitigate the activities of money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF), various information on banking customers are timely and accurately gathered and analysed through automation. Furthermore, in many instances, IT systems exclusively built to achieve a similar objective are frequently established, and comparable to most IT implementations in the banking institutions, they are often can be equally regarded as a significant investment as well. Viewed from the longstanding debate on the value of IT investments to organisations, empirical research within the IS domain seemed to have placed less emphasis on the possible contribution of regulatory IT implementations. While it is easy to conceive that these IT deployments were never intended to directly benefit banking business from the outset, a study from this perspective should not be disregarded, but instead, warrant to be equally explored. The rationale for this statement can be attributed to the aforementioned assertion regarding the potentially substantial monetary investments required. In addition to this, it may also be due to the high tendency of stringent regulations being enforced in the future, and hence, could inevitably place a significant demand on organisational resources, and further influence their associated opportunity costs. For that reason, this study has attempted to fill the identified research gaps by conducting an investigation from the standpoint of a topical issue regarding anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing (AML/CFT) implementation efforts within banking institutions. Utilising a conceptual framework that leverages the resource-based view (RBV) to structurally analyse a list of research objectives, empirical evidence of business benefits and the associated capabilities through organisational AML/CFT efforts have indeed been discovered. The benefits are particularly in the form of having the opportunity to leverage various information and infrastructure that were established for regulatory purposes. Further evidence has also suggested that selected AML/CFT alerts have the potential of providing unique opportunity for the organisation to trigger time-critical event-based marketing activities, resulting in a possible improved competitive positioning (ICP). Importantly, by appreciating the insights obtained through the research, a conceptual framework is proposed, which may aid to structurally assess the possible benefits of any organisational regulatory IT implementations

The culpability of accounting practice in promoting bribery and corruption in developing countries

Bribery and corruption are increasing in the developing countries. It has been estimated that some $400 billion of bribe is paid to political elite in developing countries. Such huge amounts of money cannot be successfully executed without the active involvement of multinational companies (MNCs) from the Western countries. This paper examines the processes involved in the misapplication of accounting practice from the perspective of anti-social criminal practices. It analyses the implication of accounting practice in the construction of MNCs bribery and corruption activities. The paper locates MNCs enterprise culture and accounting practice within the broader dynamics of global capitalism to argue that the drive for higher profit at almost any cost is not constrained by accounting rules, laws and even periodic regulatory actions. The paper uses publicly available evidence to illuminate the role of accounting technology in concealing and facilitates MNCs corrupt practices in developing countries. Evidence is provided to show that to secure and retain business in developing countries and to gain competitive advantages MNCs have engaged in bribery and corruption. The paper also makes suggestions for reform

The impact of the portuguese culture in the prevention and detection phases of money laundering crimes

Every day, millions of financial transactions take place around the world. These transactions are the cornerstone of the world’s economy. However, crimes such as money laundering and terrorist financing threaten the stability of the financial system. Financial Intelligence Units and subject entities work every day to fight these problems. With this in mind, this dissertation was developed as a consultancy thesis for a Portuguese financial institution and it investigates how Hofstede’s (1983) cultural dimensions influence the effectiveness in detecting money laundering and terrorist financing in the compliance department of the organization. From the studies conducted, it was possible to infer that three of the six dimensions proposed by Hofstede (Individualism vs Collectivism, Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance), have an impact on prevention and detection of money laundering and terrorist financing crimes, in that department. Taking the above mentioned into consideration, the first suggestion is the continuation of the effort to create measures that support communication, within the compliance department. Secondly, a new role in the compliance department can be created. This new job would have the responsibility of analysing possible flaws with the mechanisms and new ways that criminals can use to achieve their ends. Finally, the creation of a new entity with the purpose of regulation and managing the compliance profession will be suggested.Todos os dias, milhões de transações financeiras são realizadas no mundo inteiro. Essas transações são a base da economia mundial. No entanto, crimes como o branqueamento de capitais e financiamento do terrorismo ameaçam a estabilidade do sistema financeiro. As Unidades de Informação Financeira e entidades sujeitas trabalham todos os dias para combater estes problemas. Neste sentido, esta tese de consultoria para uma instituição financeira portuguesa, investiga de que forma as dimensões culturais de Hofstede (1983) influenciam a eficácia na deteção de branqueamento de capitais e financiamento do terrorismo no departamento de compliance de uma instituição financeira portuguesa. A partir dos estudos realizados, foi possível inferir que três das seis dimensões propostas por Hofstede (Individualismo vs Coletivismo, Distância de Poder e Prevenção de Incertezas) têm impacto na prevenção e deteção de crimes de branqueamento de capitais e financiamento do terrorismo nesse departamento. Tendo em conta o acima mencionado, a primeira sugestão é a continuação do esforço de criação de medidas de apoio à comunicação, dentro do departamento de compliance. Em segundo lugar, um novo posto neste departamento pode ser criado. Esta nova posição teria a responsabilidade de analisar possíveis falhas dos mecanismos de deteção e prevenção e novas formas que os criminosos podem usar para alcançar seus fins. Finalmente, será sugerida a criação de uma nova entidade com o objetivo de regulamentar e gerir a atividade de compliance

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Digital Finance

This open access book presents how cutting-edge digital technologies like Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain are set to disrupt the financial sector. The book illustrates how recent advances in these technologies facilitate banks, FinTech, and financial institutions to collect, process, analyze, and fully leverage the very large amounts of data that are nowadays produced and exchanged in the sector. To this end, the book also describes some more the most popular Big Data, AI and Blockchain applications in the sector, including novel applications in the areas of Know Your Customer (KYC), Personalized Wealth Management and Asset Management, Portfolio Risk Assessment, as well as variety of novel Usage-based Insurance applications based on Internet-of-Things data. Most of the presented applications have been developed, deployed and validated in real-life digital finance settings in the context of the European Commission funded INFINITECH project, which is a flagship innovation initiative for Big Data and AI in digital finance. This book is ideal for researchers and practitioners in Big Data, AI, banking and digital finance

Inter-agency Cooperation and Good Tax Governance in Africa

In 2015, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) and the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria launched a project to identify the links between corruption, money laundering and tax crimes in Africa. The project promotes the concepts of good tax governance and the importance to economic development of a tax system that is transparent and free of corruption. The project explores how law enforcement agencies and tax authorities can best cooperate to counter corruption and bribery. The project was initially aimed at three focus countries, namely, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, but soon was extended to other African countries. This is a joint initiative with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and is also supported by the World Bank. This book brings together a series of background papers prepared for the Conference on Inter-Agency Co-operation and Good Tax Governance in Africa held at the University of Pretoria in July 2016. After a rigorous double peer-review process, the papers were revised by the authors. We express our gratitude to and acknowledge the services of the following peer reviewers: Tom Balco; Carika Fritz; Leon Gerber; Willem Jacobs; Benjamin Kujinga; Thabo Legwaila; Annet Oguttu; Dirk Scholtz; David Solomon; and Xeniya Yeroshenko. Finally, we express our sincere gratitude to all the research and administrative assistants who contributed to the Good Tax Governance in Africa Project. This book pays tribute to their efforts. Jeffrey Owens, Rick McDonell, Riël Franzsen and Jude Amos (Vienna and Pretoria, November 2017