Myanmar Tops 2024 Basel AML Index as Highest-Risk Jurisdiction for Money Laundering

Myanmar has been ranked as the highest-risk jurisdiction for money laundering globally in the 2024 Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index. Following closely behind are Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo in second and third last place, respectively. Much of the rest of the bottom 10 consists of African nations, including Gabon and Guinea-Bissau.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, San Marino was recognized as having the lowest money laundering risk worldwide. European countries dominated the top tier, with Iceland and Finland ranked second and third, respectively.

The Basel AML Index is produced by the Basel Institute on Governance, an independent non-profit organization that aims to strengthen governance and combat corruption. The rankings evaluate countries based on 18 indicators that measure factors such as AML legislation quality, corruption and bribery risk, financial transparency, and political and legal risk.

According to the Basel Institute, each indicator has its own scoring mechanism. These individual scores are normalized using the “min-max method” to a 0-10 system, where a score of 10 indicates the highest level of risk.

Top and Bottom Rankings

The ten countries identified as having the lowest money laundering risks are as follows:

1. San Marino – 2.96

2. Iceland – 3.00

3. Finland – 3.07

4. Estonia – 3.16

5. Andorra – 3.29

6. Sweden – 3.45

7. Denmark – 3.50

8. Slovenia – 3.54

9. Lithuania – 3.54

10. Greece – 3.66

    
    

Conversely, the ten jurisdictions deemed most at risk are:

1. Myanmar – 8.17

2. Haiti – 7.92

3. The Democratic Republic of the Congo – 7.73

4. Chad – 7.60

5. Venezuela – 7.59

6. Lao PDR – 7.53

7. Central African Republic – 7.49

8. Gabon – 7.48

9. Republic of Congo – 7.28

10. Guinea-Bissau – 7.28

    
    

Israel was ranked 15th, Australia 17th, the United Kingdom 25th, and the United States 63rd.

Broader Findings

The Basel Institute reported a 12% improvement in technical compliance with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations since 2013. Despite this progress, the average global effectiveness of AML measures remains low, with a score of just 28%.

In particular, the effectiveness of investigations, prosecutions, and sanctions was highlighted as a weak point, scoring the lowest global average at just 20%.

The full Basel AML Index is available here.

By fLEXI tEAM