KPMG Study Shows Banks' Increasing Focus On Money Laundering

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

24 September 2004

A study recently completed by accounting firm KPMG has revealed that over the past three years, on an international level, four out of five financial institutions have increased their spending on anti-money laundering technologies and practices by an average of 61%.

Announcing that of the 293 banks and institutions questioned, two-thirds saw the issue as a high priority since the September 11 terrorist attacks, KPMG revealed that this increase in awareness is reflected in the number of suspicious activity reports generated, with 67% of those polled stating that they have generated increasing numbers over the past three years.

However, it also emerged that only half of the institutions questioned ran checks to determine if their clients are "politically exposed" or present an increased risk of corruption, a finding which led the global chairman of KPMG Forensic, Adam Bates to comment to the BBC that:

"This is definitely something which needs to be tightened up. I don't think the regulators, or the public, are likely to find it amusing the next time a bank is found taking money from a corrupt general or political leader."

The KPMG study also revealed a need for increased harmonisation of anti-money laundering requirements on a global scale in order to improve efficiency.

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