The United States Government today released its Money Laundering Threat Assessment (MLTA), the first government-wide analysis of its kind. The inter-agency MLTA investigates money laundering vulnerabilities across a spectrum of techniques used by criminals.
Describing the initiative as an example of government cooperation at its best, Stuart Levey, Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), said *”Before you can effectively treat a problem, you must first have an accurate diagnosis. The Money Laundering Threat Assessment integrates information contributed by sixteen government agencies, as well as vital Bank Secrecy Act data provided to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to evaluate the range of current and emerging U.S. money laundering threats.”*
Collaborating on the MLTA were sixteen U.S. bureaus, offices and agencies from the Departments of Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the United States Postal Service.
Laundering methodologies investigated range from banks and money transmitters to alternative methods, such as casinos and trade-based money laundering. The MLTA also looks at new and emerging industries, such as online payment systems and stored value cards, which are vulnerable to illicit financial activities.
*”By bringing together government-wide participants with the relevant expertise and experience, we were able to produce a report that should help policymakers, regulators, and the law enforcement community make better-informed decisions in allocating resources and combating money laundering,”* Levey said today.