News

Microstructuring, a Challenge to AML Compliance, Raises Concerns About Regulation

By Brian Orsak

Microstructuring, a method of money laundering that is challenging for financial institutions to detect, is likely to be looked at more closely by regulators and law enforcement, even as institutions protest that it is difficult to detect, according to compliance officers and consultants. The method is a variation on traditional structuring, sometimes called smurfing, in which large transactions are broken up into amounts under the $10,000 threshold at which banks must file a currency transaction report. In microstructuring, launderers break transactions down into amounts that range from a few hundred dollars to less than $2,000, and further hide the money...

TO READ THE FULL STORY