Warm hearts and cold crimes

Charities or non-profit organisations are often at work in conflict zones close to terrorist operations and open to direct attack. The threat of financial compromise by the same extremists, arising from NPOs’ extended communication lines, heavy reliance on volunteers, who may not always be properly vetted, high cash turnover, and perhaps weak financial controls due to a strong ethos of trust, applies, equally, away from trouble spots. In a recent typology report, the Financial Action Task Force considers these risks and how AML/CFT professionals can respond. Sue Grossey reviews the text.