An analysis of literature on the prevention of money laundering and counter terrorist financing

Abstract

The objective of the researcher in this study was to determine whether any common themes can be identified from previous papers/articles both academic and grey literature related to the Prevention of Money Laundering (PML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The researcher decided to carry out this study as he felt that throughout the previous years several researchers wrote on these two interesting and important topics, thus he felt the need that there should be a review to see whether common any themes emerge. The author decided that the best way to conduct this study was through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), whereby through the NVIVO software he was able to efficiently review numerous previous academic and grey literature which relate to the PML and CFT. Through this SLR the researcher identified five themes that are all closely related to Money Laundering (ML) and Financing of Terrorism (FT). The five identified themes were the 4th and 5th European Union Anti-Money Laundering Directives, Policies and Procedures, Risk-based Approach, Regulators, and Challenges. The themes that have been identified highlight the critical importance of the issuing of directives, the crucial function of policies and procedures, the inherent value of the risk-based approach, the crucial involvement of regulatory bodies, and how each financial institution faces its own challenges in the fight against ML and FT. Therefore, through these themes related to ML and FT, the author will be able to answer the following research question of the study: From previous published literature, can the author identify any common themes related to the PML and CFT?