Trade-based money laundering, typically through trade mis-invoicing, has become the main vehicle for illicit financial flows (IFFs) around the world. Latin America and the Caribbean are focal points for inflows and outflows of this particular type of financial crime, finding themselves in the position of being hubs for corruption scandals, following the Panama Papers and Odebrecht investigations. Unfortunately, detailed information on the issue remains scarce.

The public sector plays a big role in the fight to reduce IFFs, primarily through thorough policy-making and ensuring that competent and relevant authorities are trained, raising awareness among the private sector around how trade finance is vulnerable to money laundering attempts and requiring financial institutions to conduct more internal training programs on trade-based money laundering.

Download our infographic to learn more about the challenges facing this sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.