Purpose

Anti-money laundering (AML) obligations follow a risk-based approach, making their extent subject to the degree of AML risk. Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) must constantly assess risks, for example, by conducting annual risk assessments of the company. The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether MLROs’ risk assessments are biased in form of a better-than-average (BTA) effect, meaning whether they favourably assess their own company’s risk compared to that of the average competitor. Additionally, MLROs’ general risk assessment capabilities are researched.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of MLROs of German companies was conducted (n = 228). It tests for a BTA effect in participants’ risk assessments of their own company as well as for errors in risk assessments of other industries.

Findings

MLROs’ risk assessments are biased by a BTA effect across all industries. They view their own company’s risk to be below that of the average competitor. Additionally, MLROs are not able to correctly assess industries’ AML risks compared to the national risk assessment. Risks were especially underestimated for high-risk industries. Biases were partially found to be higher among MLROs from the non-financial sector.

Practical implications

Risk-based AML measures are likely to be at least partially ineffective, calling the risk-based approach into question. Regular trainings of MLROs need to include awareness for biases in risk assessments. A more stringent and effective supervision, especially in the non-financial sector, is called for.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to show that a BTA effect exists among MLROs.

中文翻译：

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欧盟反洗钱法下的风险评估偏差——德国效果优于平均水平的证据

目的

反洗钱 (AML) 义务遵循基于风险的方法，其程度取决于 AML 风险的程度。洗钱报告官 (MLRO) 必须不断评估风险，例如，通过对公司进行年度风险评估。本文的目的是分析 MLRO 的风险评估是否以优于平均 (BTA) 效应的形式存在偏差，这意味着与平均竞争对手的风险相比，他们是否有利地评估了自己公司的风险。此外，研究了 MLRO 的一般风险评估能力。

设计/方法/方法

对德国公司的 MLRO 进行了一项调查 ( n = 228)。它测试参与者对自己公司的风险评估中的 BTA 效应以及其他行业风险评估中的错误。

发现

MLRO 的风险评估受到所有行业的 BTA 效应的影响。他们认为自己公司的风险低于一般竞争对手的风险。此外，与国家风险评估相比，MLRO 无法正确评估行业的反洗钱风险。高风险行业的风险尤其被低估。部分发现非金融部门的 MLRO 的偏差较高。

实际影响

基于风险的反洗钱措施可能至少部分无效，这使基于风险的方法受到质疑。MLRO 的定期培训需要包括对风险评估中偏见的认识。需要更加严格和有效的监管，特别是在非金融领域。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，本文首次表明 MLRO 之间存在 BTA 效应。