Legal Persons and Arrangements Money Laundering Risk Assessment Tool

StAR led the development of a new module to assess money laundering risks related to legal entities and beneficial ownership-related risks, as part of the World Bank’s National Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment (NRA) Toolkit. Shell companies and other legal structures (such as limited liability partnerships) have emerged as a primary mechanism for moving illicit funds around the world. The module provides a comprehensive methodology for authorities to map out key features of their country’s beneficial ownership framework and related assess ML threats and vulnerabilities. Version 1.0 of the tool was published in June 2022 alongside four other new modules on specific risks: terrorist financing, virtual assets, non-profit organizations, and environmental and natural resources.

The Legal Persons/Arrangements module consists of a guidance manual and an excel tool which can be downloaded below. 

The World Bank developed a National Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment (NRA) Toolkit to support WBG client countries and jurisdictions in self-assessing their money laundering and terrorist financing risks. This approach is in line with the FATF recommendations which require that countries identify and assess ML/TF risks within their jurisdiction and tailor actions to mitigate such risks. The core WB ML/TF risk assessment tool has been used in over 100 countries since 2012.