What Is The Basel AML Index?
Basel Institute of Governance is an independent, international, non-profit organization committed to preventing and combating corruption and other financial crime. The organization was established in Basel, Switzerland.
Each year Basel Institute publishes an independent ranking that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing in the world. This ranking is known as Basel AML Index.
Published by the Basel Institute of Governance since 2012, this document gives risk scores based on data from 15 publicly available sources such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum. FATF countries risk scores cover five parameters such as:
- Quality of AML framework
- Bribery and corruption
- Financial transparency and standards
- Public transparency and accountability
- Legal and Political Risks
The primary objective is not to rank countries superficially compared to each other, but to give an overall view of different countries ‘and regions’ risk levels and their progress in addressing vulnerabilities over time. The average money laundering risk increased compared to last year, as the Basel Institute of Management published the 2020 anti-money laundering index, which assesses the risks of money laundering / terrorist financing of 141 countries.
Basel AML Index 2020: Weak oversight and dormant systems leave countries’ doors open to money laundering. The 2020 Basel AML index disappointed everyone seeking concrete progress in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing globally. The average risk score across all 141 countries on the list remains unacceptably high, at 5.22 out of 10, where 10 is maximum risk.
Many countries’ financial systems are extremely vulnerable to money laundering, terrorist financing, and related crimes.
Basel Institute Ranking 2020
The top 10 countries with the highest AML risk are
- Afghanistan (8.16)
- Haiti (8.15)
- Myanmar (7.86)
- Laos (7.82)
- Mozambique (7.82)
- Cayman Islands (7.64)
- Sierra Leone (7.51)
- Senegal (7.30)
- Kenya (7.18)
- Yemen (7.12).
The top 10 countries with the lowest AML risks are
- Estonia (2.36)
- Andorra (2.83)
- Finland (2.97)
- Bulgaria (3.12)
- Cook Islands (3.13)
- Norway (3.19)
- New Zealand (3.24)
- Sweden (3.32)
- Slovenia (3.35)
- Denmark (3.46)
Scandinavian countries pose the lowest risk of money laundering according to this research and have the most conducive environment for corruption free business.
