> The AML push has succeeded in stamping out the most pernicious practices, such as using shell banks (those with no real customers) in sunny places to launder

> The AML push has succeeded in stamping out the most pernicious practices, such as using shell banks (those with no real customers) in sunny places to launder suitcases stuffed with drug money. But criminals haven’t been forced to get particularly creative The practice of somebody shady needing just to buy a bank to hide his money is still very much around. I believe it is still the primary mean which at least Russia criminals use. Baltics, Cyprus, much of South-East Europe, even Germany are places where semi-morbid micro banks are sold in weeks for symbolic amounts of money.