Saudi Arabia’s efforts on combating money laundering and terrorist financing: (Review undertaken in September 2017)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study Saudi Arabia’s approach to combat money laundering and terrorist financing through legislation, regulation and implementation. Saudi Arabia is an integral part of the global economy and energy market. Saudi Arabia is also an important nexus for incoming foreign investment in the region. The country has, for many years, confronted negative exposure on challenging money laundering and terrorist financing. This paper analyses Saudi Arabia’s efforts to maintain international standards of AML/CTF and distinguishes regulatory practice from the existing comments and conjecture on the country’s performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a qualitative study of Saudi Arabia’s approach to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The approach is spread across three stages of AML/CTF policy – namely, legislative, regulatory and implementation. Further, the paper also uses independent evaluation to understand Saudi Arabia’s performance in comparison to the international standards of good AML/CTF practice.
Findings
The paper finds Saudi Arabia in compliance with international standards of AML/CTF practice. The paper also traces strengthening of AML/CTF-related legislation and regulation in Saudi Arabia over the past two decades. The paper also finds significant evidence that suggests a biased representation of Saudi Arabia’s AML/CTF practices. The factual analysis of Saudi Arabia and its AML/CTF practice is in contradiction of the established discourse on the country’s money laundering and terrorist financing risk profile.
Practical implications
The paper presents a legislative and regulatory analysis of Saudi Arabia’s AML/CTF practice. It is important to understand the implications of injudicious conjecture on Saudi Arabia’s financial strategy to diversify the country’s economy (Mouawad, 2005). Commentators and observers must consider the evidence presented in this paper and reassess the discourse regarding Saudi Arabia’s adherence to international standards of AML/CTF.
Originality/value
Understanding Saudi Arabia’s approach to combat money laundering and terrorist financing is essential to the factors that maintain stability in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has participated in the region with government forces to maintain stability. The paper examines the overall risk as per international standards, which can be attributed to Saudi Arabia’s AML/CTF profile.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author explicitly states that this research article is not a propaganda piece and in no way has the author received any form of funding or assistance from any party towards this piece of research.
This paper sets out an approach to review Saudi Arabia from an independent academic perspective, employing tools that separate AML/CTF analysis from media opinion.
All the content within this paper was current at the time of being authored (September 2017).
The international political climate has evolved since then, with new material from research also emerging. These points need to be taken into consideration when reading this paper.
Citation
Naheem, M.A. (2019), "Saudi Arabia’s efforts on combating money laundering and terrorist financing: (Review undertaken in September 2017)", Journal of Money Laundering Control, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 233-246. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-10-2018-0065
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited