The Wolfsberg Principles ‐ an analysis

Abstract

Explains how the Wolfsberg Principles came about in late 2000, when leading banks met at Wolfsberg castle in Switzerland to improve private banking standards for combating the huge amounts of money being laundered; two further sets of Principles have appeared since the original. Discusses the reasoning behind the Principles: to create a common standard which would lessen the complexity and uncertainty from running multinational banks across disparate anti‐money laundering regimes. Lists the Wolfsberg Principles Relating to the Suppression of Terrorism, and concludes that they represent a triumph of risk‐based over rule‐based management; this should result in more precise and practice‐based regulations than from the traditional regulator‐led compliance approach.