Stages of money laundering

Money laundering is characterized by the placement, concealment and integration of illicit resources. Knowing what it consists of is important in risk management.

An adequate system for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing must be aware of the stages through which criminals conceal the origin of resources. This simplifies the process to identify suspicious transactions.

In order to conceal their ties to illegitimate earnings and evade the legal consequences involved, criminals conceal the nature of resources coming from criminal activities (trafficking, fraud, terrorism, corruption, arms smuggling, public misappropriation, etc.).

To do so, they use a complex process by which they move funds through the economic system. The infograph below shows how it works and the different stages of money laundering. It also shows the four main methods used.