DUSHANBE, June 15, 2013 Asia-Plus – The Basel AML Index ranked Tajikistan 4th among 149 countries in terms of money laundering/terrorist financing risk.
The top 10 countries identified as the highest risk countries in the 2013 Basel AML Index are Afghanistan (8.55), Iran (8.48), Cambodia (8.35), Tajikistan (8.27), Iraq (8.19), Guinea-Bissau (8.17), Haiti (8.09), Mali (7.95), Swaziland (7.90), and Mozambique (7.90).
The report by the Basel Institute on Governance, however, notes that the fact that these countries were ranked the highest does not necessarily mean that they have the most money laundering and terrorism financing activities. The Basel AML Index is designed to assess the risk of money laundering, i.e. to indicate the vulnerability of a country to money laundering and terrorism financing. Therefore, high-risk scores indicate how vulnerable a country is based on its AML/CFT framework, rule of law, financial standards and public transparency. The top 10 countries are identified in the Basel AML Index as the most vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing based on their poor performance by the majority of indicators and measurements that have been used in the Index. The main factors are inadequate money laundering legislation and terrorist financing, however additional variables and factors considered in the Basel AML Index include high rates of perceived corruption, lack of judicial strength, lack of resources to control the financial system, and lack of public and private transparency.
Five countries indentified as the lowest risk countries in the 2013 Basel AML Index are Norway (3.17), Slovenia (3.3), Estonia (3.31), Finland (3.74) and Sweden (3.75).
The Basel AML Index is a country risk ranking to measure the risk of money laundering / terrorist financing and other relevant aspects, such as financial standards and public transparency. The Basel AML Index aggregates third party data from sources such as the FATF, World Bank, and the World Economic Forum to assess a country”s overall money laundering risk.
The Basel AML Index consists of 14 indicators assessing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) frameworks as well as good governance standards in the financial and public sector.
The Basel AML Index does not measure the actual existence of money laundering activity in a country; instead it provides a basis for assessing the risk level – or the vulnerability of a given country based on its adherence to AML/CTF standards and other risk categories.
The 2013 edition is the second release of the Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index. First published in April 2012, it continues to be the only rating of country money laundering/terrorist financing risk by an independent non-profit institution.
This year’s version of the Basel AML Index covers 149 countries, five more countries than the previous edition.
