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Shell companies or shell corporations are companies that exist only on paper. They do not have active business operations or significant assets. Without an office and employees, they may have a bank...

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore’s central bank and the city state’s financial regulator. Established in 1971, MAS acts as the Singapore government’s banker. MAS regulates the...

A Money Services Business (MSB) is a transaction that involves currency exchange and money transfer. Checks, foreign currency transactions, and money order transactions are examples of MSB, which can...

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) is a department of the US state government. It is responsible for regulating the state’s financial services and products, including those...

When a firm wants to purchase, collaborate with, or engage into a commercial partnership with another company, it performs vendor due diligence (VDD). Vendor due diligence, like customer due...

Governments and international organisations issue sanctions lists to prevent illicit activity, but what exactly are they?

In 2009 alone, an estimated USD 1.6 trillion was laundered globally, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). To combat the growing volume of illicit financial activities,...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the world’s first regulatory body of the security industries that was formed in 1934 to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly and efficient...

In order to address the growing problem of money laundering, both national and international bodies around the world provide guidelines for the finance industry. These impose certain screening and...

Financial regulators across the world mandate institutions under them to have a proper assessment of their prospective customers before they open an account. This assessment is important because it...

Subject to stricter regulatory requirements, financial institutions are mandated to identify and verify their customers as part of Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines. Given the severe sanctions for...

In order to combat the problem of money laundering, countries through various agencies formulate anti money laundering compliance programmes or AML compliance programmes. These programmes lay down...