Anti-money laundering disclosures and banks’ performance
Pages | 95-108 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-10-2016-0063 |
Published date | 02 January 2018 |
Date | 02 January 2018 |
Author | Haitham Nobanee,Nejla Ellili |
Subject Matter | Accounting & Finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial crime |
Anti-money laundering
disclosures and banks’
performance
Haitham Nobanee and Nejla Ellili
Department of Economics and Finance, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paperis to explore the extentof anti-Money laundering (AML) disclosures in
the annual reports and websites by differentiating between UAE Islamic and conventional banks, and
examine the effectof AML disclosure on UAE bank’s performance.
Design/methodology/approach –This study uses content analysis to explore the extent of AML
disclosurein the annual reports and the dynamic panel data two-step robustsystem to study the impact of the
AML disclosureson banking performance.
Findings –The findings show that AML disclosureis at a low level for all UAE banks, conventional and
Islamic banks.The results also show that the degree of AML disclosure on the websites of the banks is higher
than that in the annualreports.
Research limitations/implications –The sample for this study comes only from banks traded on
UAE markets.Thus, the results may not be generalizable to banks tradedon other financial markets.
Practical implications –Because of the cross-bordercharacter of the money laundry practices, our study
suggests the UAE central bank to internationalize the AML regulations anddevelop an international AML
regime as effortsto respond to the international developmentof the money laundry practices.
Originality/value –This is the first study that develops an index to measure the AML disclosure and
contributessignificantly in providing greater insight in respectto AML disclosure in banking industry within
the emergingmarkets.
Keywords Islamic banks, Dynamic panel data, Anti-money laundering, Banking performance,
Voluntary disclosures
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Money laundering is definedas a process where illegally obtainedmoney, such as from drug
trafficking, terrorist activity or other serious crimes, is given an appearance of having
originated from a legitimate source.
At the international level, there are many endeavors to combat the crime of money
laundering and they are found in the effortsof the World Bank promoting measures halting
or slowing the flow of money into the emergingmarkets, the international accords including
the Vienna Convention, the 1990 Council of Europe Convention, the Basel Committee
Statement of Principles, the European Union Directive, the International Criminal Police
Organization (INTERPOL), the Resolution of the International Organization of Securities
Commissions and the FinancialAction Task Force (FTAF).
JEL classification –C33, G32, G34
Anti-money
laundering
95
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.25 No. 1, 2018
pp. 95-108
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/JFC-10-2016-0063
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