Measuring Qatar's compliance with international standards on money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. Issue 3 (4th July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: TRUBY, JON
• Editors: Futter, Angela
• Is Part Of: Journal of money laundering control. Volume 19:Issue 3(2016)
• Publication Date: 2016-07-04
• Subjects: Money laundering -- Periodicals; Money laundering investigation -- Periodicals; 364.168
• DOI: 10.1108/JMLC-04-2015-0011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-5201

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: Under scrutiny in light of the growing threat of international terrorism, Qatar faces pressure and accusations that it is not doing enough to counter terror financing and clamp down on money laundering. The major difficulty seems not to be that Qatar is avoiding taking positive action, rather that the measures Qatar enact are frequently outdated by the time of implementation due to the international community having already increased their regulatory requirements in the meantime. Qatar's slow pace has led to case of cat-and-mouse chase to update its standards, with a revised set of rules being required by the time Qatar implements the last set of international standards. Design/methodology/approach: The initial purpose of this article is to catalogue Qatar's efforts to comply with international anti-money laundering and anti-terror finance standards. It demonstrates the real legislative progress post-2008 recorded by Qatar to minimize money laundering and terrorist financing, and dispute some assertions that Qatari law is insufficient. Findings: It will explain Qatar's efforts to comply with the recommendations made by each evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force. It also highlights the potential for Qatar to be caught out again by the evolution of international expectations in an upcoming review which, it is understood, is likely to take place in 2017. Originality/value: No article exists specifically on this research field. As Qatar prepares for its 2017 FATF evaluation, it should be minded of the need to comply with all new standards.