KPMG global anti-money laundering survey

KPMG has conducted the Global Anti-Money Laundering Survey 2007 following a similar survey in 2004.

The survey featured 224 of the world's largest and Tier 1 capital banks and in-depth interviews with respondents in 55 countries.

The results highlight increased involvement from senior management and significant investment in AML systems and controls. At the same time, they suggest that there is much to do to make the financial systems more robust to fight against money laundering.

Key findings among others are:

* Senior level management takes an active interest in AML issues followed by the results of the 2004 survey. This has resulted in AML costs growing well beyond expectations. The main drivers of the past and future increases in costs continue to be transaction monitoring and staff training.

* Banks have become more global in their approach to managing AML risk.

* More banks report that they have a monitoring and testing program in place, and banks report that a wider range of functions within their organization are involved in this.

* An increased number of banks are using a risk-based approach to determine the level of due diligence performed on clients at account-opining stage ('Know Your Customer" or KYC processes).

* Banks continue to report that properly trained staff is the best AML control, and this is reflected in continued high spending on training program.