Comment by makeitdouble
1 year ago
> these laws are largely ineffective at stopping actual money launderers
Money laundering could be the "think about the children" relying cry of the financial world. If international entities want better control over financial exchanges and a window into people's money, playing the money laundering card is a guarantee to get it passed without having to justify it that much.
The degree to which it has affected regular/everyday banking is pretty astounding, and is probably exactly what the regulators wanted from the start.
> Money laundering could be the "think about the children"
My hyper-liberatrianism is showing, but I've always been slightly irritated with money "laundering" being a crime in the first place. It's pretty far removed from the actual harm: money laundering is illegal because drugs are illegal and drugs are illegal because when people do drugs they do things that actually cause harm (to others and themselves). Like... I get the cause-and-effect chain there, but there's no evidence that these laws help anyway and they definitely hurt.
The reasoning is very simple: You want criminals (no matter what crime) not to be able to enjoy the fruits of their "labour". That strikes me as eminently reasonable.
The goal is no doubt reasonable. But AML regulations largely fail to achieve that goal and come at a high cost.