Alternative Remittance Systems and Terrorism Financing

Explores alternative remittance systems and how countries are bringing them into their counter terrorist financing regime without hindering the poor's ability to effectively send and receive funds at low cost.

Governments, through their regulatory bodies, typically regulate formal financial sector players such as banks, which can leave providers working in informal remittance systems outside regulatory channels. Value transfer services--financial transfers performed domestically or across borders on behalf of clients--are essential to the financial system, and as such, are often offered by both formal and informal actors. Law enforcement and counter-terrorism authorities are evaluating money and value transmission channels for vulnerabilities that may make these channels attractive for illicit use, including the financing of terrorism. Alternative Remittance Systems and Terrorism Financing: Issues in Risk Management aims to help countries bring these informal alternative remittance systems into their counter-terrorism programs, without hindering the ability of those who depend on these systems to send and receive money at low cost.