Suspicious alerts in money laundering – the Crédit Agricole case
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the recent Crédit Agricole case outcome, whereby the bank was found to have undertaken insufficient investigation and failed to follow through on reporting suspicious account activity, in line with AML compliance requirements.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the two main legal documents in the Michailidis v Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment (CACI) bank case and analyses the judgement details to discuss the implications for the banking and financial services sector on money laundering and AML compliance reporting requirements.
Findings
The main findings from the analysis are that banks have a greater legal responsibility towards detecting and reporting suspicious transactions than they would have previously considered. This includes identifying the source and purpose of fund transfers and establishing the beneficial ownership of recipients.
Research limitations/implications
The research topic is new, and therefore, analysis papers and other academic writing on this topic are limited.
Practical implications
The research paper has identified a number of implications to the banking sector on addressing AML deficiencies, especially the detection and reporting requirements of suspicious transactions.
Social implications
This paper has implications for the corporate social responsibility of banks and other financial services towards monitoring the source and use of money that is in their organisation. The paper identifies areas of legal responsibility that banks now have to manage, as part of their commitment to support the prevention of money laundering.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper is the current example of the Crédit Agricole case and the future legal implications for banks and financial services on suspicious transaction reporting and money laundering risk assessment.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Please note that this paper was composed and submitted for review to this journal in May 2015. All the content was current at that point in time (May 2015). The regulation industry is constantly evolving with new research emerging and being published. These points need to be taken into consideration when reading this paper. The author acknowledges being the recipient of a research grant awarded by Princess Ālae as part of Seven Foundation’s “2020 Banking Vision – building banks of the future” and he thanks her for the continued support and motivation both to himself and other students who benefit through her generosity (www.sevenfoundation.ch). The author also thanks Professor Muhammad Jumáah (a leading economist of this era in the world today, based in Damascus), who has continued to provide valuable input both through his teaching of the science of economics and for his continued guidance.
Citation
Naheem, M.A. (2017), "Suspicious alerts in money laundering – the Crédit Agricole case", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 691-703. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-12-2015-0074
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited