#18 The great anti-money laundering illusion
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The global AML system is getting better at compliance — but is it getting better at stopping criminals?
Dawn Pretorius challenges the effectiveness of the world's anti-money laundering architecture, drawing on FATF's own concerns about the gap between technical compliance and real-world outcomes. From ineffective risk-based approaches and beneficial ownership weaknesses to the broken link between suspicious transaction reports and criminal prosecutions, this episode asks a difficult question: Are we measuring the wrong things?
And more importantly — is it time to completely rethink how the world fights money laundering?
Dawn Pretorius challenges the effectiveness of the world's anti-money laundering architecture, drawing on FATF's own concerns about the gap between technical compliance and real-world outcomes. From ineffective risk-based approaches and beneficial ownership weaknesses to the broken link between suspicious transaction reports and criminal prosecutions, this episode asks a difficult question: Are we measuring the wrong things?
And more importantly — is it time to completely rethink how the world fights money laundering?
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and the Core Challenge
- 01:28 FATF's Shift to Effectiveness Over Compliance
- 02:05 Problem 1: Process Focus Over Outcomes
- 03:14 Problem 2: Risk-Based Approach Not Working as Intended
- 04:18 Problem 3: Pursuing the Wrong Money Laundering
- 05:31 Problem 4: Beneficial Ownership as a Major Weakness
- 06:49 Problem 5: The Gap Between Financial Intelligence and Law Enforcement
- 07:32 The Broken Chain After the STR
- 08:17 Banks, Fines, and the Too-Big-to-Fail Problem
- 09:25 Are We Measuring the Wrong Things?
- 10:32 A Call for Simplification and Systemic Reform
- 11:38 How to Get Involved and Share Your Ideas
