Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) / Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)
ShapeA formal report filed by financial institutions and licensed regulated companies to the JFIU when transactions or activities appear unusual or potentially indicative of money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illicit activities. STRs/SARs are crucial for complying with and facilitating investigations into suspicious behavior, aiming to safeguard the financial system’s integrity.
Straw Man Account
A Straw Man Account is a financial account set up and used to conceal the actual account holder’s identity, typically to facilitate money laundering or other illicit activities.
Source of Funds
The origin of a company’s financial activity, the specific cash or monetary instrument subject to the transaction, or the source and method of transfer of funds accepted for the account.
Social Engineering
It is a type of fraud where the perpetrator uses deception to manipulate individuals into divulging personal, sensitive, and confidential information, then uses it for fraud. Common types of social engineering scams are baiting, scareware, quid pro quo, and multiple phishing scams.
Simplified due diligence (SDD)
SDD is a component of customer due diligence (CDD) that applies a less rigorous approach to specific low-risk customers and transactions. It’s a risk-based method that allows a legal person or natural person to streamline their due diligence processes without compromising the integrity and objectives of AML and CTF measures.
Shell Bank
A shell bank is a domestic or foreign bank with no physical address or location in the country where it is incorporated.
Shelf Company
A company that has been incorporated months or years in advance, typically by a law firm or accounting firm, and then placed “on the shelf” until needed. Investors may use these shelf companies, also known as “aged” companies, to acquire a business with a clean and established operational history.
Sham Divestment
Divesting is the process of reducing the exposure a natural person or legal person has to an asset to achieve specific financial and social goals through selling the asset entirely or part closure of the position, in which a sanctions target sells assets or equity to close associates or other affiliated persons. These include friends, […]
Service Provider
A (registered regulated) licensed legal entity, such as a company, that utilizes corporate legal data provided by another party to perform services on their behalf.
Settlors
A person or company transfers ownership of their assets to trustees by means of a trust deed, where the trustees have some discretion as to the investment and distribution of the trust’s assets. The deed may be accompanied by a non-legally binding letter stating what the settlor wishes to do with the assets.