Money laundering

Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB highlights the risks associated with a cashless society.

Russian criminals transferred more than $20 billion stolen money in Europe via Moldovan, Latvian and British banks.

Mobile money payments could be at risk of facilitating money laundering activities, a US Department of State report finds.

It is only through a solid compliance system that money laundering can be fought - a not by imposing cash restrictions or demonetising high denomination notes.

Western Union recognizes its fault in an international fraud scheme that lasted 8 years and agrees to pay a record fine to the US Department of Justice to settle charges.

Of the $1.6 trillion illicit financial flows, less than 1% of it is caught and frozen, but how can so much money simply move around, unseen?

Deutsche Bank Research shows that abolishing cash would not eliminate crime.

After having noticed some unusal activity, America's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is using the John Doe summons to dig deeper into the bitcoin world in its fight against tax evasion.

There is little or no evidence that restricting cash payments contributes to curb tax evasion or money laundering. And these measures could also have a negative impact on consumption.

The former President of the SNB states that "The decision to stop issuing high-denomination banknotes will receive the blessing of well-meaning souls but it will fail to meet its objective of fighting efficiently against criminality and will have negative side effects."

The EU Commission should set up a taskforce to monitor virtual currencies, like Bitcoin, to prevent their being used to launder money or finance terrorism, said Parliament in a non-binding resolution voted on Thursday.