Recent estimates suggest that in excess over $1 trillion is laundered worldwide annually by drug dealers, arms traffickers, and other criminals.

Banks act as gatekeepers for the legitimate financial system and it is only through their vigilance that the system can be protected from providing organised criminals or terrorists with a mechanism for concealing the proceeds of criminal and corrupt activity. As such, they play a crucial role in the prevention, detection and reporting of money laundering.

KPMG Forensic commissioned a global anti-money laundering survey in 2007 to determine whether the increasing globalisation of banking groups and of international regulatory cooperation is resulting in increased consistency in the approach to anti-money laundering (AML).

We interviewed 224 international banks across 55 countries; we also sought to draw out the key questions that we believe banks’ senior management must consider if they are to aim to ensure that their banks address the key issues arising from both the survey results and from respondents’ comments and issues. The results of the survey provide the opportunity for banks around the world to assess and benchmark their own practices against those of their regional and international peer groups.