Global Developments in Trade-Based Money Laundering

Abstract

This rapid research review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on the scale and dynamics of trade-based money laundering (TBML) and key challenges and opportunities in relation to TBML, both globally and in relation to the United Kingdom (UK) specifically. The study took place over ten days in August and September 2022, and involved a review of existing literature, as well as two interviews with experts. Much of the literature reviewed originated from international organisations and publications by national governments, supplemented by news reports and publications by private sector firms. Academic papers were also reviewed, though the availability of relevant, recent, peer-reviewed papers was limited.

Deploying artificial intelligence for anti-money laundering and asset recovery: the dawn of a new era

“…The challenge will be to identify weak signal patterns in vast volumes of data from various firms, with hundreds of transactions coming in each second. Among other promising fields, AI-based tools can uncover trade-based money laundering schemes by detecting unit prices in a series of transactions that diverge from established international thresholds in an attempt to overstate or understate the quantity of traded goods relative to payments (Herbert, 2022; FATF, 2006). In all cases, the key is to ensure adequate data pooling and sharing, collaborative analytics, as well as appropriate access by supervisors (FATF, 2021b).…”