Combating Financial Crime: Intended and Unintended Consequences

This book, a product of the Financial Integrity Hub (FIH), explores the societal costs of combating financial crime and the balance between security imperatives, individual rights, and the integrity of global financial systems. It examines the ethical dilemmas and practical challenges faced by policymakers, practitioners, and the public as they navigate the evolving landscape of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regimes.

While designed to safeguard societies and economies, measures from these regimes can erode privacy, stifle legitimate activity, and exacerbate inequalities. Through analysis and real case studies, this book scrutinises the ethical and legal dilemmas arising from expanded surveillance, showing how the pursuit of security can undermine civil liberties and invite abuse. It assesses the impact of regulatory frameworks on non-profit organisations, vulnerable populations, and businesses, drawing attention to the unintended consequences of well-intentioned policies. It also examines the expanding role of technology in surveillance, raising critical questions about the future of privacy in an increasingly interconnected world. The book highlights the intersection of financial crime and environmental exploitation, demonstrating the far-reaching effects of illicit activity.

Through a global lens, it evaluates regulatory approaches including unexplained wealth orders, risk-based assessments, and emerging tools like Central Bank Digital Currencies. It exposes gaps in current frameworks, questioning whether they adequately address evolving threats of terrorist financing and complex financial crimes. By engaging with these challenges, the book calls for a more nuanced approach to financial crime control, one that protects society without undermining its core values.

Essential reading for legal professionals, policymakers, academics, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, and anyone concerned with the global fight against financial crime, this book provides critical insights into its ethical and legal dimensions. It encourages reflection on unintended consequences and advocates for a fair, responsible, and balanced approach to safeguarding financial integrity.

Chapter “Surveilling the Citizen: Constitutional Tensions within the Canadian AML Regime” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Doron Goldbarsht LLB LLM (HUJI) PHD (UNSW) is an Associate Professor at Macquarie Law School, the Director of the Financial Integrity Hub (FIH) and the Academic Head of the Graduate Certificate in Financial Integrity Law. With over 20 years of expertise in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF), he has published as sole author, co-author, and co-editor several books on financial crime and compliance, including Financial Crime and the Law: Identifying and Mitigating Risks (Springer, 2024) and Financial Technology and the Law: Combating Financial Crime (Springer, 2022). Doron also provides expert opinions to governments and the private sector in litigation, advising on financial crime and regulatory matters. His expertise is frequently sought in complex cases involving cross-border transactions, compliance with global AML/CTF standards, and the interpretation of regulatory obligations in high-stakes enforcement actions. He is regularly consulted by national and international media outlets on developments in financial crime law, policy, and enforcement.

Louis de Koker B.Iuris LLB LLM (UFS) LLM (Cambridge) LLD (UFS) is a professor of law at La Trobe Law School, Australia, an extraordinary professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of the Western Cape and an Advisory Board Member of the Financial Integrity Hub (FIH). His financial crime research focuses on mitigating unintended negative consequences of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing objectives. He has undertaken various university research engagements with bodies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and has worked closely with the DC-based Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). This work extended to a range of developing countries including Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, the Ukraine and Palau. His publications have been cited in publications and research papers of international bodies such as the World Bank, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Labour Organisation, the G20's Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion and the World Economic Forum.

Jamie Ferrill is a Senior Lecturer of Financial Crime Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University and a Research Fellow with the Financial Integrity Hub (FIH). Before transitioning to academia, she gained nearly a decade of experience in law enforcement, serving with the Canadian federal government. Jamie’s research addresses threats to national and economic security, with a particular interest in the intersection of financial crime with border governance frameworks, international cooperation, and organisational effectiveness. Jamie has been a visiting fellow at the Academy of International Affairs NRW (Germany) and the Border Policy Research Institute (USA), and she is a fellow of the FIH, Borders in Globalization (Canada), and the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University (Canada).