The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.
Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, consumer-finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, individual asset managers, and some government-sponsored enterprises.
An informal value transfer system (IVTS) is any system, mechanism, or network of people that receives money for the purpose of making the funds or an equivalent value payable to a third party in another geographic location, whether or not in the same form. Informal value transfers generally take place outside of the conventional banking system through non-bank financial institution or other business entities whose primary business activity may not be the transmission of money. The IVTS transactions occasionally interconnect with formal banking systems, such as through the use of bank accounts held by the IVTS operator.
A giro transfer, often shortened to giro, is a payment transfer from one bank account to another bank account and initiated by the payer, not the payee. The debit card has a similar model. Giros are primarily used in Europe; although electronic payment systems exist in the United States, it is not possible to perform third-party transfers with them. In the European Union, there is the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which allows electronic giro or debit card payments in euros to be executed to any euro bank account in the area.
A hundi or hundee is a financial instrument that developed in Medieval India for use in trade and credit transactions. Hundis are used as a form of remittance instrument to transfer money from place to place, as a form of credit instrument or IOU to borrow money and as a bill of exchange in trade transactions. The Reserve Bank of India describes the hundi as "an unconditional order in writing made by a person directing another to pay a certain sum of money to a person named in the order."
The Australian financial system consists of the arrangements covering the borrowing and lending of funds and the transfer of ownership of financial claims in Australia, comprising:
A cheque, or check, is a document that orders a bank to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing the cheque, known as the drawer, has a transaction banking account where the money is held. The drawer writes various details including the monetary amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as the drawee, to pay the amount of money stated to the payee.
Al-Barakat, or Al-Barakaat, which means "Blessings" in Arabic, is a group of companies established in 1987 in Somalia. The firm is involved in the modern form of hawala, an informal value transfer system and remittance method. By 2001, Al-Barakat had outlets in 40 countries, and was the country's largest private employer. It handled about $140 million USD a year from the Somali diaspora, and also offered phone and internet services.
A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries. Workers' remittances are a significant part of international capital flows, especially with regard to labor-exporting countries.
A correspondent account is an account established by a banking institution to receive deposits from, make payments on behalf of, or handle other financial transactions for another financial institution. Correspondent accounts are established through bilateral agreements between the two banks.
The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by the United States Congress in 2001 as a response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. It has ten titles, with the third title written to prevent, detect, and prosecute international money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Dahabshiil is an international funds transfer company, and is the largest money-transfer business in Africa.Its headquartered in Burao, Somaliland. Formed in the early 1970s, the firm operates from over 24,000 outlets and employs more than 2,000 people across 126 countries. It provides financial services to international organisations, as well as to both large and small businesses and private individuals. The company is also involved in community building projects in Somaliland.
The Central Bank of Somalia (CBS) is the monetary authority of Somalia. Somalia has struggled to reestablish a functioning state since the collapse of an authoritarian regime in 1991. Somalia has been cited as a real-world example of an anarchist stateless society and a country with no formal legal system. The Transitional Federal Government, formed in 2004, was recognized as the central government of Somalia. Among other duties, it is in charge of ensuring financial stability, maintaining the internal and external value of the local currency, and promoting credit and exchange conditions that facilitate the balanced growth of the national economy. Within the scope of its powers, it also contributes to the financial and economic policies of the State.
Money transfer generally refers to one of the following cashless modes of payment or payment systems:
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Banking or banking activity that complies with Sharia —known as Islamic banking and finance, or Sharia-compliant finance—has its own products, services and contracts that differ from conventional banking. Some of these include Mudharabah, Wadiah (safekeeping), Musharakah, Murabahah, Ijar (leasing), Hawala, Takaful, and Sukuk.
In the legal code of the United States, a money transmitter or money transfer service is a business entity that provides money transfer services or payment instruments. Money transmitters in the US are part of a larger group of entities called money service businesses or MSBs. Under federal law, 18 USC § 1960, businesses are required to register for a money transmitter license where their activity falls within the state definition of a money transmitter.
A money services business (MSB) is a legal term used by financial regulators to describe businesses that transmit or convert money. The definition was created to encompass more than just banks which normally provide these services to include non-bank financial institutions.
Banking in Albania, in its present form dating from 1992, consists of the nation's central bank - the Bank of Albania - and an expanding network of secondary banks. The Bank of Albania has the task of supervising the financial system, which currently contains 16 privately owned banks and many other financial institutions.
Hawala and crime describes notable examples of hawala used in money laundering.
