The Changes in Terrorism Financing Regulations within the Financial Industry
Nguyen, Vi (2018)
Nguyen, Vi
Yrkeshögskolan Arcada
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018121321509
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018121321509
Tiivistelmä
Financial institutions play an important role as gatekeeper and controller to prevent terrorism financing due to their unique abilities and functions. A strong financial regulatory system ensures that the financial institutions are protected and can exercise their role to the fullest in countering terrorism financing. This thesis looks into historical changes of CFT regulations, studies the reasons behind the changes and discusses whether those changes were effective and sufficient.
Methodology: This thesis employs qualitative empirical research methodology. The main data includes the Bank Secretary Act of the United States, several UN Resolutions on CFT, and the FATF Recommendations. Through content analysis, the data are grouped into three chronological categories representing the main focuses of the regulations during those time periods. Then the data are analyzed through the lenses of discourse analysis to discuss whether the changes were effective.
Results: The regulations in the earlier period lacked the focus on CFT due to assumptions on the similarities between anti-money laundering and terrorism financing. This had left many opportunities for terrorist groups to obtain their funds through the formal financial institutions. The regulations in the middle period amended for the earlier mistakes by provided more defined CFT guidelines and extended the scope of terrorism financing activities for monitoring. The recent regulations keep the financial system up to date with modern terrorism financing methods. While there were shortcomings in the early regulations, the policymakers did well in controlling the situations by quick and effective regulatory revisions. However, the issues of transnational soft law compliance and future predictions should be addressed for more well-covered and effective future amendments.
Limitations: The main data used in this study does not fully reflect the changes in CFT regulations of all nations worldwide. In addition, some contextual meaning might be lost or overlooked during analysis due to specific selection of data. Lastly, the analysis and discussion might not fully reflect the policymakers’ thoughts and intentions due partly to the author’s assumptions in interpretation of the regulations.
Methodology: This thesis employs qualitative empirical research methodology. The main data includes the Bank Secretary Act of the United States, several UN Resolutions on CFT, and the FATF Recommendations. Through content analysis, the data are grouped into three chronological categories representing the main focuses of the regulations during those time periods. Then the data are analyzed through the lenses of discourse analysis to discuss whether the changes were effective.
Results: The regulations in the earlier period lacked the focus on CFT due to assumptions on the similarities between anti-money laundering and terrorism financing. This had left many opportunities for terrorist groups to obtain their funds through the formal financial institutions. The regulations in the middle period amended for the earlier mistakes by provided more defined CFT guidelines and extended the scope of terrorism financing activities for monitoring. The recent regulations keep the financial system up to date with modern terrorism financing methods. While there were shortcomings in the early regulations, the policymakers did well in controlling the situations by quick and effective regulatory revisions. However, the issues of transnational soft law compliance and future predictions should be addressed for more well-covered and effective future amendments.
Limitations: The main data used in this study does not fully reflect the changes in CFT regulations of all nations worldwide. In addition, some contextual meaning might be lost or overlooked during analysis due to specific selection of data. Lastly, the analysis and discussion might not fully reflect the policymakers’ thoughts and intentions due partly to the author’s assumptions in interpretation of the regulations.