Anti Money Laundering (AML) in Argentina
Money laundering is a problem in Argentina that is typically concurrent with drug-related crimes.
The Argentinean government took several important steps to further combat money laundering and terrorist financing in 2005, including the ratification of the UN International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism, and regulatory changes to improve its Anti Money Laundering (AML) and counterterrorist financing systems.
Argentina’s primary AML legislation is Law 25.246 of May 2000. The Law expands the predicate offenses for money laundering to include all crimes listed in the Penal Code, sets a stricter regulatory framework for the financial sectors, and creates an FIU, the Unidad de Informacion Financiera (UIF), under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. The Law establishes requirements for customer identification, recordkeeping and reporting of suspicious transactions by all financial entities and businesses supervised by the Central Bank, the Securities Exchange Commission (Comisión Nacional de Valores or CNV), and the Superintendence of Insurance (Superintendencia de Seguros de la Nación or SSN).
Numerous cases of suspected money laundering have been passed to prosecutors by the UIF. The Central Bank of Argentina established a specialized bank examination unit devoted specifically to money laundering, and expanded its requirements for financial institutions to check transactions against the terrorism lists of the United States, European Union (EU), Great Britain and Canada, in addition to the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee consolidated list.
AML Training in Argentina
Argentina's Criminal Code requires Argentinean financial institutions to implement training programs to combat money laundering activities and other illegal transactions in the country.
The Economy of Argentina
Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. Although one of the world's wealthiest countries 100 years ago, Argentina suffered during most of the 20th century from recurring economic crises, persistent fiscal and current account deficits, high inflation, mounting external debt, and capital flight. A severe depression, growing public and external indebtedness, and a bank run culminated in 2001 in the most serious economic, social, and political crisis in the country's turbulent history.
Banking in Argentina
Banking in Argentina developed initially though public sector banks, but now the banking industry is primarily made of private banks.
The largest bank in Argentina is a public bank, the Banco de la Nacion Argentina, not the Central Bank.
The Central Bank of Argentina (Banco Central de la República Argentina, BCRA) was established in almost 50 years after the Banco de la Nacion. The Central bank replaced the Currency Board.
The Central Bank is the sole issuer of Pesos in the country.
Argentinean Currency
The peso is the currency of Argentina. It is divided into 100 centavos. The peso has been the currency since 1992. Before the peso, the currency was the austral with a rate of 1 austral to 1,000 pesos.
Coins are available in 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 centavos and the 1 peso coin.
Banknotes are available in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 peso notes.
Other Key Statistics about Argentina
Time Zone: UTC-3 (2 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time).
Daylight Savings Time: +1hr, begins first Sunday in October; ends third Saturday in March; note - a new policy of daylight saving time was initiated by the government on 30 December 2007.
Location: Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile and Uruguay.
Population: 40,482,000 (July 2008 est.).
Labor Force: Approximately 1% agriculture, 23% industry and 76% services industries. The unemployment rate is 8.5%.
Languages Spoken: Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French.
Trade Organizations: Argentina is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
