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REGULATORS worldwide are waking up to anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism financing (CFT) vulnerabilities posed by complex financial instruments such as futures, options, contracts-for-difference, depository receipts, and so on.

Contemporary case studies are scarce, scant and usually sanitised for release into the public domain, for instance typologies published in recent years by: global AML/CFT body the Financial Action Task Force (FATF); the European Union’s (EU) FATF-style body Moneyval; the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering; and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).…

PROFITS from human trafficking are estimated at USD32 billion-a-year and growing, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), with the trade one of the fastest growing international crimes, now second to the drugs trade and ahead of arms trafficking. But despite its emotive nature as a crime, only recently has the money laundering angle to human trafficking been taken more seriously, and there is still a way to go.…

WITH AREVA celebrating 30 years of operations in China in 2013 its head of operations in the country is hoping for an expansion of joint ventures as well as overseas collaboration with Chinese partners in uranium sourcing.

Speaking in Beijing, Rémy Autebert, senior executive vice-president for Asia, explained how he hopes to see a doubling in the number of joint ventures with Chinese partners, from the company’s current four.…

CENTRAL Asia has long been a focus of the European Union’s (EU) geopolitical efforts to wean itself off Russian oil and gas dependency and the European Commission has steadily wooed the nations in the region: first Kazakhstan, then Turkmenistan have been given audiences, trade agreements and social programme funding in return for opening channels for talks on energy.…

A golden age of mobile communications is dawning, with consumers worldwide spending more money on hand-held comms devices than ever before. But service providers beware. They must be smart to capture new revenue streams from apps, audiovisual delivery, social media and data services, lest these new riches are diverted into the hands of content owners and OTT service providers.…

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is circulating a new consultative paper designed to bring its members – the world’s banking supervising authorities – up to speed on the latest thinking in the anti-money laundering sector. The committee specifically wants to support banking regulators’ and banks’ implementation of the new standards agreed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2012.…

Eurometaux, the organisation representing the interests of the European non-ferrous metals industry, has welcomed the launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Thailand. “We believe this is something that will boost the trade potential between the EU and Thailand and will open the market,” Elena Vyboldina, Eurometaux’s trade and economy manager told Metal Bulletin.…

NEGOTIATIONS for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Thailand, removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, may erase restrictions on exports of cut and polished marble and granite stones from the EU to Thailand.

At the moment European exporters of these minerals, as well as other monumental or building stone, need prior authorisation from the Thailand ministry of commerce.…

A STEEP rise and then within a few years an equally steep fall in the exports of goat meat from India has exposed failings within the country’s supply chain, say industry experts. According to Mansoor Nadeem Lari, managing director of Abdullah Fresh Foods in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a recent 500% collapse in the Indian goat meat exports has been sparked by rising domestic prices.…

IF there is one crime condemned worldwide it is the sale and smuggling of counterfeit medicines. Sometimes close copies and sometimes dangerous substances – this crime kills on a grand scale.

Counting the number of its victims accurately is difficult, because of the subversive nature of the trade, but some think-tanks have tried.…