The US government defence spending bill passed by Congress at the end of December included a new anti-money laundering (AML) whistleblower reward programme that has been heralded as a game-changer in efforts to clamp down on illicit money flows.
The release of the FinCEN files last year highlighting how fraudsters have been able to move millions of dollars of stolen money around the world – through leading banks such as HSBC, Barclays and Deutsche Bank – has emboldened authorities’ efforts to get on top of the issue.
