The costs of implementing the anti‐money laundering regulations in Sweden
| Date | 08 May 2009 |
| Pages | 101-112 |
| Published date | 08 May 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13685200910951884 |
| Author | Dan Magnusson |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
The costs of implementing
the anti-money laundering
regulations in Sweden
Dan Magnusson
Jo
¨nko
¨ping International Business School, Jo
¨nko
¨ping, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this paper is to estimate the costs of implementing the anti-money laundering
regulations in Sweden.
Design/methodology/approach – The banks are the central institutions in this respect and the
paper shows that the costs of the banks in Sweden amount to 400 million SEK yearly. The paper is
based upon interviews with a sample of banks and bank statistics.
Findings – There are big deficiencies in the Swedish legal regulations. For example, banks have no
right to freeze the money in suspicious transactions. There are also deficiencies in the legal regulation
systems that make it possible for unserious companies to transfer money on behalf of criminals by
using the normal retail banking system. The resources of the supervising authorities are insufficient.
The results of the regulations are meagre seen in relation to the costs of the banks for the
implementation of the regulations. One argument against this assertion about inefficiency is that the
regulations have preventive effects. There is nothing in this project that gives evidence for any
noteworthy preventive effects of the regulations upon the original criminality or terrorism. Why
should accept a system that costs substantial sums of money and has other negative effects just
because it might have some uncertain positive effects? It seems to be a better strategy to develop a
system whose effects are measurable.
Originality/value – Very little research about the costs of the anti-money laundering regulations
has been done so far and this paper is entering a new field of research.
Keywords Money laundering,Laws and legislation, Banks, Costs, Sweden
Paper type Research paper
1. Aim of the study
This paper results from an ongoing research project concerning the costs of
implementing the anti-money laundering regulations in Norway and Sweden, however,
only the Swedish paper will be dealt with here. In the project the costs of the banks are
estimated. The empirical study is an estimation based upon a sample of typical
companies within different classes of size.
An empirical knowledge of the costs of the implementation of the anti-money
laundering regulations is a precondition to evaluate the efficiency of the control
system. In this project such an evaluation will be made.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1368-5201.htm
The paper is a result of a research project concerning the total costs of implementing the
anti-money laundering regulations in Norway and Sweden. The Norwegian part of the study was
carried out by Professor Paul Larsson, Oslo. Many ideas presented in the paper are as much Paul
Larsson’s as the author’s, but he is not responsible for any shortcomings in the paper. The
Scandinavian Research Council for Criminology is financing the research project.
Anti-money
laundering
regulations
101
Journal of Money Laundering Control
Vol. 12 No. 2, 2009
pp. 101-112
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1368-5201
DOI 10.1108/13685200910951884
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