Islamic financial institutions: conduits for money laundering?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss various situations in the Islamic financial services industry that are asserted to facilitate money laundering and the counter-arguments to the assertions.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach adopted by this paper is a review of literature and of several practices of Islamic financial institutions in a number of countries.

Findings

There is no evidence to support the contentions that Islamic financial institutions facilitate money laundering. Further, Islamic financial institutions are not any more susceptible to money laundering than conventional financial institutions are.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates that Islamic financial institutions are not conduits for money laundering.

Citation

Jabbar, S.F.A. (2020), "Islamic financial institutions: conduits for money laundering?", Journal of Money Laundering Control, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 285-295. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-09-2019-0074