Typologies
Under the Terms of Reference of the Eurasian group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, one of the main EAG objectives is analyzing trends (typologies) of money laundering and terrorist financing and sharing experience in combating such crimes taking into account regional specifics.
A typology is a method of research founded on breaking down a system of objects and grouping them according to a generalized model or type. The purpose of typological research in the efforts of financial intelligence units is to raise the effectiveness of detection of money laundering and terrorist financing schemes. This goal is subdivided into two objectives:
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raising the effectiveness of detecting known money laundering and terrorist financing schemes;
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raising the effectiveness of identifying new schemes.
Typologies are defined on the basis of analysis of materials of financial investigations conducted by FIUs and materials of criminal cases. Typologies command a great deal of attention in the efforts of the FATF and all FATF-style regional bodies.
As part of its efforts to research money laundering and terrorist financing typologies meant to raise the effectiveness of crime detection, the EAG is holding seminars on typologies and publishing manuals on money laundering and terrorist financing typologies.
Seminars on typologies were held:
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in November 2005 in Moscow (Russia);
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in November 2006 in Shanghai (China) jointly with FATF;
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in October 2007 in Almaty (Kazakhstan);
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in October 2009 in Moscow (Russia).
Given the international nature and current scale of money laundering and terrorist financing that pose a global threat to international security, the EAG has organized typology research cooperation with the FATF and other FATF-style regional bodies, including as part of joint seminars on typologies.