Editing Money laundering (section)

===Magnitude===
Many regulatory and governmental authorities issue estimates each year for the amount of money laundered, either worldwide or within their national economy. In 1996, a spokesperson for the [[IMF]] estimated that 2–5% of the worldwide global economy involved laundered money.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Money Laundering: the Importance of International Countermeasures--Address by Michel Camdessus |language=en |work=IMF |url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp021098 |access-date=2018-03-02 |archive-date=23 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523200844/https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp021098 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering]] (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, stated, "Due to the illegal nature of the transactions, precise statistics are not available and it is therefore impossible to produce a definitive estimate of the amount of money that is globally laundered every year. The FATF therefore does not publish any figures in this regard."<ref name="FATF FAQ">{{Cite web |last=Financial Action Task Force |title=Money Laundering - Financial Action Task Force |url=http://www.fatf-gafi.org/faq/moneylaundering/ |access-date=26 October 2018 |archive-date=23 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523201256/http://www.fatf-gafi.org/faq/moneylaundering/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Academic commentators have likewise been unable to estimate the volume of money with any degree of assurance.<ref name="chasing dirty money" /> Various estimates of the scale of global money laundering are sometimes repeated often enough to make some people regard them as factual—but no researcher has overcome the inherent difficulty of measuring an actively concealed practice.

Regardless of the difficulty in measurement, the amount of money laundered each year is in the [[1000000000 (number)|billions]] of US dollars and poses a significant policy concern for governments.<ref name="chasing dirty money" /> As a result, governments and international bodies have undertaken efforts to deter, prevent, and apprehend money launderers. Financial institutions have likewise undertaken efforts to prevent and detect transactions involving dirty money, both as a result of government requirements and to avoid the reputational risk involved. Issues relating to money laundering have existed as long as there have been [[Organized crime|large-scale criminal enterprises]]. Modern anti-money laundering laws have developed along with the modern [[War on Drugs]].<ref>For example, under UK law the first offences created for money laundering both related to the proceeds from the sale of illegal narcotics under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and then later under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994.</ref> In more recent times anti-money laundering legislation is seen as an adjunct to the financial crime of [[terrorist financing]] in that both crimes usually involve the transmission of funds through the financial system (although money laundering relates to where the money has come ''from'', and terrorist financing relating to where the money is going ''to''). Finally, people, vessels, organisations and governments can be sanctioned due to international law-breaking, war (and of course tit-for-tat sanctions), and still want to move funds into markets where they are ''[[persona non grata]]''.

Transaction laundering is a massive and growing problem.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-09-27 |title=Transaction laundering should be a top priority for regulators in 2018 |work=Financial Times |url=https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/09/27/2193969/transaction-laundering-should-be-a-top-priority-for-regulators-in-2018/ |access-date=2019-01-10 |archive-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110183657/https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/09/27/2193969/transaction-laundering-should-be-a-top-priority-for-regulators-in-2018/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Finextra estimated that transaction laundering accounted for over $200 billion in the US in 2017 alone, with over $6 billion of these sales involving illicit goods or services, sold by nearly 335,000 unregistered merchants.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-07-17 |title=Online Payments-the Blind Spot in the AML Regime |url=https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14298/online-payments-the-blind-spot-in-the-aml-regime |access-date=2019-01-10 |website=Finextra Research |language=en |archive-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110184332/https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14298/online-payments-the-blind-spot-in-the-aml-regime |url-status=live }}</ref> Money laundering can erode [[democracy]].<ref name="v890">{{cite journal | last1=Demetriades | first1=Panicos | last2=Vassileva | first2=Radosveta | title=Money Laundering and Central Bank Governance in The European Union | journal=Journal of International Economic Law | volume=23 | issue=2 | date=17 August 2020 | issn=1369-3034 | doi=10.1093/jiel/jgaa011 | pages=509–533}}</ref><ref name="f925">{{cite journal | last1=Walker | first1=Christopher | last2=Aten | first2=Melissa | title=The Rise of Kleptocracy: A Challenge For Democracy | journal=Journal of Democracy | volume=29 | issue=1 | date=2018 | issn=1086-3214 | doi=10.1353/jod.2018.0001 | pages=20–24}}</ref>