Money Laundering Amounts to a Trillion-Dollar Business

Rick McDonnell

HONOLULU, HAWAII (7 May 2001) - Money laundering, one of the most serious issues facing the international financial community, is an estimated US $1 trillion activity, according to the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering.

Less than half of the laundered money comes from the drug trade, according to Rick McDonnell, Head of the APG Secretariat, who presented a paper at the seminar on Financial Crime and Money Laundering at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank.

Joseph Myers

If money laundering is not checked, the stability of Asian banking systems could be at risk and nations could face reputational damage and ostracism from the international financial system, Mr. McDonnell said.

The definition of money laundering, according to APG, is the process of converting cash or other property derived from criminal activity, to give it the appearance of having been obtained from legitimate sources.

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