The Hindu Business Line : `Banks must have systems to check money-laundering'

Police partnership along with the banking sector can be the only way to prevent white-collar crime, said Mr Jayant Umranikar, Additional DGP, CID, Pune.

Banks can effectively reduce the risks of banking transactions if they identify transactions that fall outside the regular pattern of consumer's activities. Banks need to have an effective anti-money laundering technology system, Mr Umranikar said at the annual conference on banking security.

Black money is estimated to account for more than 40 per cent of India's GDP. IMF estimates the global volume of money laundering to be anywhere between $600 billion and $1.8 trillion a year.

In the US, the collective spending by banking, insurance and fund-management companies on the anti-money laundering measures is estimated to be $10.9 billion during 2003 and 2005.

In India there are no estimates of expenditure on anti money laundering (AML) measures either by banks or financial institutions, Mr Umranikar said in an official statement on banking security.

Integrated identity provisioning and unambiguous access policy would allow banks to upgrade security policies, he said.

While keeping vigil over transactions, the enforcements agencies have to ensure that genuine transactions and movement in genuine capital across international borders did not get affected, he said.

There should be continuous audit and review of AML programme to update the system, said Ms Jyotsna Ayyagari, Consultant-3i Infotech. Banks as well as financial institutions should have thorough profiling of people and channels of money transactions, she said in a conference on Banking Security-2006.

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