BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ---------- GRADUATION THESIS MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH VIETNAMESE BANKING SYSTEM Student : Vu Thuy Linh Class : K21ATCB Academic Year : 2018 – 2022 Student ID : 21A7510088 Advisor : Mr. Ngo Tung Anh (MA, MBA) Ha Noi, May 2022 17014127696501000000 BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ---------- GRADUATION THESIS MONEY LAUNDERING THROUGH VIETNAMESE BANKING SYSTEM Student : Vu Thuy Linh Class : K21ATCB Academic Year : 2018 – 2022 Student ID : 21A7510088 Advisor : Mr. Ngo Tung Anh (MA, MBA) Ha Noi, May 2022 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I would like to declare that the graduation thesis is my own research work under the guidance and support of MA. Ngo Tung Anh.
The statements in the project are also the result from the researches conducted directly and independently by the author and it is based on the searching and investigated basis as well as other published scientific documents or translations. The project will be guaranteed in its objectivity, honesty and science. I will take all responsibilities if the study is detected any violations or copying problems! Hanoi, May 4th 2022 Student Vu Thuy Linh i TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. i TABLE OF CONTENTS.
v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES.vii LIST OF FIGURES. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Reason for writing.
Objective of the Study. Scope and Delimitation of the Study. Definition of Terms. Significance of the Study.
Structural Organization of the Thesis. 9 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE. Background of money laundering. The process of money laundering.
The risks of money laundering evaluated according to crimes. Drugs possession and use. Obtaining property by fraud. Illegal wildlife trade.
Illegal transferring of goods and money across the border. Crime of smuggling. The risks of money laundering evaluated according to fields. Agency of currency exchange.
Laws relating to Anti-Money Laundering. Vietnam legislation system about Anti-Money Laundering. The reality of Anti-Money Laundering in Vietnam banking system. Legal basis about the prevention of money laundering in Vietnam banking system.
The reality of Anti-Money Laundering in Vietnamese banks. Bank Supervision Reports. 37 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Suspicious Transaction Report (STR).
Analyzing Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) based on bank types. Analyzing Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) based on money laundering signals. Analyzing Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) based on money laundering methods. Survey on the frequency of Suspicious Transaction signals.
Anti-Money Laundering Activities. Main limitations of Anti-Money Laundering activities in Vietnam. Causes for the limitations of Anti-Money Laundering activities. 62 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION.
Some proposals to the legislative body and related Ministries, Boards and branches. Some proposals to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to show my appreciation to Mr. Ngo Tung Anh (MA, MBA), my supervisor of the graduation thesis “Money laundering through Vietnamese banking system” in the graduation term of 2022.
Tung Anh has supported me a lot during 3 months that I did my graduation thesis. He instructed me from the common information such as thesis structure, topic ideas and layout of the thesis to the smallest things like the definitions of each part in the thesis or some tips for better results. My instructor also provided valuable advices and enthusiasm comments on my work. Honestly, it was my pleasure when i had chance to learn and work with Mr.
In addition, I also want to present my special thanks to all lecturers from Faculty of Foreign Languages in Banking Academy for their lessons and supports in my college time, which was a strong foundation to help me complete my graduation thesis as well as a stepping stone for my future. Last but not least, I wish to express my gratefulness to all staffs and managers of Vietnam International Bank (VIB) – Branch of Cho Mo, especially my seniors in teller department. They helped me to have the basic knowledge of a teller and supported my research by sharing some helpful datas. At the same time, I also hope to thank my family and friends who has given me many supports during my thesis written period.
v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABBREVIATIONS MEANINGS STR Suspicious Transaction Report AML Anti-Money Laundering FAFT Financial Action Task Force FDI Foreign Direct Investment APG Group Asia/Pacific on Money Laundering SBV State Bank of Vietnam OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development UN United Nations ADB Asian Development Bank USD United States Dollar VND Viet Nam Dong KYC Know Your Customer ICOs Initial Coin Offerings CDD Customer Due Diligence CIF Customer Information File QR Quick Response URLs Uniform Resource Locators GDP Gross Domestic Product CIC Credit Information Center FIB Focused Ion Beam VIB Vietnam International Bank vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: List of bank types in the research Page 34 Table 3.2: List of Anti-Money Laundering activities applied at Page 36 banks Table 3.3: List of Money Laundering signs Page 37 Table 4.1: The suspicious transaction reports of different Page 43 financial institution types Table 4.2: List of money laundering measures Page 49 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Suspicious Transaction Report of VIB – Cho Mo Page 46 through 6 money laundering signals from 2013 to 2021 Figure 4.2: Percentage of Suspicious Transaction Report of VIB – Page 50 Cho Mo through 6 money laundering methods (2011-2016) Figure 4.3: Frequency of Suspicious Transction appearance Page 54 through 7 money laundering signs Figure 4.4: The level of Money Laundering activities Page 56 implementation in VIB – Cho Mo viii ABSTRACT Money landering has never been an old issue for the Government and society in all countries around the world. Especially, banking is a special field which affects directly and significantly to problems related to money laundering. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis is discovering the reality of money laundering in Vietnamese banks through datas analysis collected from different banks, organizations and other agencies of the Government. Based on the evaluation, we are also going to find the strengths, risks, limitations, causes and results of Anti-Money Laundering activities in Vietnam banking system.
Another goal of the research is to reflect the riskiness of money laundering in various aspects and contribute some recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of Anti-Money Laundering regulations of the Government, State Bank of Vietnam and financial institutions. This thesis will firstly show the background of money laundering, then dicuss factors belonging to money laundering and finally suggest some solutions which helps raising the effectiveness of Anti-Money Laundering activities as well as reducing the negative impacts of money laundering on national economy and banking system. In the thesis, the author had used analyzing methods combined with surveys of employees and leaders of VIB Cho Mo to complete the study. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter is considered as “the first impression” of the whole thesis.
It creates a general outlook about money laundering and other problems relating to money laundering. In chapter 1, the researcher will show the reason why having chosen the topic of money laundering, the researching methods, purpose and scope of the thesis. In addition, some research questions will also be mentioned as well as the significance and tenor of this essay. Reason for writing Until now, money laundering has appeared in many countries around the world.
The amount of money which was laundered accounts for a large density among the volume of money transferring worldwide. According to the estimation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the number of “dirty” money that is laundered can be up to 1,500 billion USD per year. In 2001, the world had about 70 “heaven of tax evasion” which was also known as foreign currency center. It included around 40,000 banks with 44% in Caribbean and Latin America, 28% in Europe, 18% in Asia, and 10% in Africa, which controlled 5,000 billion of USD.
Mostly, this center played a role as “ordering center” and it supported some large currency centers such as New York, London and Tokyo. Every year, the amount of money transferred to “heaven of tax evasion” is estimated as half of the amount of money in the world, which made these centers become the important international laundering centers. According to Forbes News, the amount of “cleaned” money in each year is estimated from 2 to 5 percent of global GDP, equal 800 billion to 2 trillion dollars. An overall look about money laundering has shown that money laundering is becoming a global issue and its effectiveness on the economy and society is extremely serious.
Therefore, the requirements of Anti-Money Laundering are very essential. 1 The issue of money laundering is a global hot potato in almost all countries in the world. Seriously, when well-known currency centers make an effort to promulgate policies against money laundering activities, many money laundering offenders have changed their aim to other emerging countries including Vietnam. According to baotintuc.vn, from 2013 to September of 2020, Vietnam had over 10,000 reports of suspicious transactions.
Additionally, the Vietnam Anti-Money Laundering office had transferred 857 cases belonging to 5,614 transactions to other related bodies for investigation, prosecution and judgment. In comparison with international nations, the recent system of law on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in Vietnam is still in term of researchment and initial deployment. Vietnam commercial banks have attached special importance to some measures against money laundering in the last 5 years, however, they are still lack of essential tools, systems and human sources to gain the most effective results. Money laundering activities create negative impacts to lots of different fields in human life such as economy, society, politics, security and defense.
Especially, this serious issue affects directly and strongly to developing countries because of their small-scaled economy, weak resistance and easy collapse. Money laundering not only increases criminals and corruption; causes bad consequences for international commercial activities and foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction but also debilitates and damages the financial system and economy. Nevertheless, Anti- Money Laundering activities are quite new in Vietnam as well as Vietnam has not gained too much remarkable outputs. According to the evaluation of APG (Group Asia/Pacific on Money Laundering) and FATF (Financial Action Task Force), the structure of AML in Vietnam has been established in recent years but it still has some problems which need to be amended and supplemented.
Vietnam and its banking system are trying to deploy Action Plans for The Anti- Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing regarding to FATF. The Anti- Money Laundering was approved by Congress in 18 June 2012 and became effective 2 from 1 January 2013. However, with purpose of promoting maximally effects of the law, we have to research, analyze and evaluate real situation and give the instructions in accordance with Vietnamese laws and reality based on these researches. Understanding the urgency of this issue, the researcher would like to do research in order to find, analyze and evaluate deeply and carefully about money laundering.
Despite the seriousness of money laundering, Vietnamese people still have a faint look and limited knowledge of this definition. Because the appearance of money laundering in Vietnam is quite late as well as the universalization to citizens is not effective, public awareness of money laundering in Vietnam is not full enough. Moreover, money laundering crimes always go with other crimes such as drug trading, trafficking, tax evasion, corruption, etc so that people just focus on other related popular crimes without caring about the illegal money that the offenders have earned and used after doing these guilty activities. In addition, Vietnam is identified and evaluated as a “potential area” of money laundering offenders by international community and organizations.
Banking is especially one of the factors that relates directly and significantly to the money laundering situation.