Dr Ronald F Pol

With surprisingly little discussion at the intersection of anti-money laundering practice and policy effectiveness and outcomes science, this thought-provoking presentation combines elements of these disciplines and recent evaluations to outline the first independent assessment of FATF's anti-money laundering 'effectiveness' methodology, and what it means for your business, and country. (c) AMLassurance.com. All rights reserved.

For decades, researchers have exposed a paucity of meaningful links between AML/CFT controls and crime and terrorism prevention, yet the dominant narrative persists, largely unchecked, unquestioned, seemingly unquestionable. This provocative, evidence-based presentation examines components of the dominant narrative in the context of scholarship on “bullshit”, and why the industry's unchanged 'compliance with standards based on rules' mantra and wilful (or wishful) blindness for effectiveness, matters for your business. (c) AMLassurance.com. All rights reserved.

With a dearth of scholarship at the intersection of money laundering and policy effectiveness science, this presentation uniquely combines elements of these disciplines and examines anti-money laundering effectiveness from a different viewpoint. Rather than seeking to measure money laundering or estimate the proportion of criminal proceeds successfully intercepted, new insights drawn directly from the anti-money laundering industry’s own “main” dataset reveals new insights, with information-rich visualisations, cross-country comparisons and rankings. These new findings raise disturbing questions. For instance, does the persistent (and ongoing) failure to transform available data into information for knowledge and insight suggest that the risk has been realised that impressionistic judgments or politicised interests drive the policy agenda at least as much as objective evidence or substantive economic and social goals? (c) AMLassurance.com. All rights reserved.