The fatal flaw of glocal ‘solutions’ to Illicit Financial Flows

Abstract

The rise in the volume of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) across the world is triggering calls from the Global South to mitigate the deleterious consequences of both IFFs and tax abuse on their economies. Using a Third World Approaches to International Law lens, this article analyses the politics of the current anti-money laundering counter-terrorism financing (AML-CTF) regime and its effects on the mitigation strategies currently in play. These include beneficial ownership registries, civil asset forfeiture regimes (including Unexplained Wealth Orders) and repatriation strategies. The paper argues that the problematic institutional politics of the global regulator Financial Action Task Force have a determinative effect on the purported ‘solutions’ to the problem of IFFs and, as such, can only perpetuate the tragedy of the broken AML system, not reform it nor deliver the putatively desired outcomes.