Do more suspicious transaction reports lead to more convictions for money laundering?
27/08/2025
In a new analysis paper published on August 27, 2025, by Sebastian Holmby, Kalle Johannes Rose, and Rasmus Ingemann Tuffveson Jensen, PhD, the authors analyse data from Europol, the IMF, the World Bank, and the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics.
The report findings show that:
- At best, reports have diminishing marginal effects; the more reports that are filed in a country, the less impact each additional report has.
- At worst, there is no or only a very weak relationship between the number of reports filed and the number of convictions achieved in a country.
The results suggest that financial regulators and supervisors should focus less on the number of reports filed in a given country and more on how the reports are used differently across countries and over time.
Please read the full preprint here:
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As well as owning and publishing Comsure's copyrighted works, Comsure wishes to use the copyright-protected works of others. To do so, Comsure is applying for exemptions in the UK copyright law. There are certain very specific situations where Comsure is permitted to do so without seeking permission from the owner. These exemptions are in the copyright sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)[www.gov.UK/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws]. Many situations allow for Comsure to apply for exemptions. These include 1] Non-commercial research and private study, 2] Criticism, review and reporting of current events, 3] the copying of works in any medium as long as the use is to illustrate a point. 4] no posting is for commercial purposes [payment]. (for a full list of exemptions, please read here www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright]. Concerning the exceptions, Comsure will acknowledge the work of the source author by providing a link to the source material. Comsure claims no ownership of non-Comsure content. The non-Comsure articles posted on the Comsure website are deemed important, relevant, and newsworthy to a Comsure audience (e.g. regulated financial services and professional firms [DNFSBs]). Comsure does not wish to take any credit for the publication, and the publication can be read in full in its original form if you click the articles link that always accompanies the news item. Also, Comsure does not seek any payment for highlighting these important articles. If you want any article removed, Comsure will automatically do so on a reasonable request if you email info@comsuregroup.com.