Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism
In the process of globalization, the need to block financial flows to terrorist organizations is becoming more and more tangible. The fight against terrorist financing is becoming a national and supranational priority, and credit institutions are among the main mechanisms for committing such crimes,...
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Інститут економіки промисловості НАН України
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irk-123456789-1309072018-03-08T03:02:36Z Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism Dimitrova, T. Finance In the process of globalization, the need to block financial flows to terrorist organizations is becoming more and more tangible. The fight against terrorist financing is becoming a national and supranational priority, and credit institutions are among the main mechanisms for committing such crimes, and are therefore covered by numerous regulations and institutions concerning their role in controlling and preventing them. The purpose of this study is to outline the commercial banks' place in terrorist financing processes by presenting their inherent characteristics within the scope of the Special Act on Measures Against Financing of Terrorism. У процесі глобалізації необхідність блокування фінансових потоків у терористичні організації стає все більш відчутною. Боротьба з фінансуванням тероризму стає національним і наднаціональним пріоритетом, а кредитні установи є одним з основних механізмів здійснення таких злочинів і тому охоплюються численними положеннями та інститутами, що стосуються їх ролі в контролі та їх запобіганню. Мета цього дослідження – описати місце комерційних банків у процесах фінансування тероризму, представивши їх невід'ємні характеристики в рамках Спеціального закону про заходи щодо фінансування тероризму. В процессе глобализации необходимость блокирования финансовых потоков в террористические организации становится все более ощутимой. Борьба с финансированием терроризма становится национальным и наднациональным приоритетом, а кредитные учреждения являются одним из основных механизмов совершения таких преступлений и поэтому охватываются многочисленными положениями и институтами, касающимися их роли в контроле и их предотвращении. Цель этого исследования – описать место коммерческих банков в процессах финансирования терроризма, представив их неотъемлемые характеристики в рамках Специального закона о мерах по финансированию терроризма. 2017 Article Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism / T. Dimitrova // Економічний вісник Донбасу. — 2017. — № 4 (50). — С. 89-95. — Бібліогр.: 16 назв. — англ. 1817-3772 http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/130907 336.71+323.28 en Економічний вісник Донбасу Інститут економіки промисловості НАН України |
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Finance Finance Dimitrova, T. Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism Економічний вісник Донбасу |
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In the process of globalization, the need to block financial flows to terrorist organizations is becoming more and more tangible. The fight against terrorist financing is becoming a national and supranational priority, and credit institutions are among the main mechanisms for committing such crimes, and are therefore covered by numerous regulations and institutions concerning their role in controlling and preventing them. The purpose of this study is to outline the commercial banks' place in terrorist financing processes by presenting their inherent characteristics within the scope of the Special Act on Measures Against Financing of Terrorism. |
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Dimitrova, T. |
| author_facet |
Dimitrova, T. |
| author_sort |
Dimitrova, T. |
| title |
Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism |
| title_short |
Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism |
| title_full |
Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism |
| title_fullStr |
Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism |
| title_sort |
commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism |
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Інститут економіки промисловості НАН України |
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2017 |
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Finance |
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| citation_txt |
Commercial banks as a mechanism against financing terrorism / T. Dimitrova // Економічний вісник Донбасу. — 2017. — № 4 (50). — С. 89-95. — Бібліогр.: 16 назв. — англ. |
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Економічний вісник Донбасу |
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AT dimitrovat commercialbanksasamechanismagainstfinancingterrorism |
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2025-07-09T14:26:44Z |
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2025-07-09T14:26:44Z |
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1837179818489151488 |
| fulltext |
T. Dimitrova
89
Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
UDC 336.71+323.28
T. Dimitrova,
PhD (Economics)
Academy of economics „D. A. Tsenov“, Svishtov, Bulgaria
COMMERCIAL BANKS AS A MECHANISM AGAINST FINANCING TERRORISM
In the process of globalization, the need to block
financial flows to terrorist organizations is becoming
more and more tangible. The fight against terrorist fi-
nancing is becoming a national and supranational prio-
rity, and credit institutions are among the main mecha-
nisms for committing such crimes, and are therefore
covered by numerous regulations and institutions con-
cerning their role in controlling and preventing them.
The purpose of this study is to outline the commercial
banks' place in terrorist financing processes by present-
ing their inherent characteristics within the scope of the
Special Act on Measures Against Financing of Terro-
rism.
***
Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions1, the
Bank makes public borrowing or other repayable funds
and provides loans or other funding at its own expense
and at its own risk, which is sufficient to justify the suit-
ability of an adequate risk management in the security
sphere of the credit institution itself; of the interests of
its clients. In this respect, commercial banks can be de-
fined as institutions with a significant role in the socio-
economic life of each country, their financial stability
and effective management are among the main prere-
quisites for competitiveness and market growth, and
their absence leads to a number of risks, including legal,
operational and reputational ones.
In view of the issue under consideration, the acti-
vities of credit institutions, the implementation of re-
lated legislation, internal policies and work procedures
are subject to constant monitoring due to the potential
for them to be used for the purpose of criminalization in
the Criminal Code - financing terrorism, which could
also be a prerequisite for the eventual occurrence of
risky situations. In addition, it is precisely the specific
activity of credit institutions that the special legal frame-
work – Law on Measures against Financing of Terror-
ism (LMFT) obliges them to regulate the measures for
prevention against the said crime.
For the purposes of this paper, the "terrorist finan-
cing" category is under analysis. As an activity in the
Criminal Code2 , terrorism is associated with a crime re-
lated to the illegal use or the danger of using force or
1 See Art. 2, para. 1 of the Credit Institutions Act (last amended SG No. 63 of 04.08.2017.
2 See Art. 108a of the Penal Code (last amended SG 54 of 05.07.2017).
3 See § 1, item 3 of the Supplementary Provision of the Act on Measures Against the Financing of Terrorism (last amended
01.01.2017).
4 See Art. 2 of the Act on Measures Against the Financing of Terrorism (last amended 01.01.2017).
5 See Art. 3, para. 1 of the Act on Measures Against the Financing of Terrorism (last amended 01.01.2017).
violence by a person or organized group against people
or property with the intention of exerting coercion or
threat against the public or state organs - for example for
ideological or political reasons. In the legal framework,
"terrorist financing" relates to the "direct or indirect, un-
lawful and deliberate provision and/or collection of
funds and other financial assets or economic resources
and / or the provision of financial services with the in-
tention of being used or conscious that they will be used
wholly or partly for terrorism within the meaning of the
Penal Code"3.
With a view to protecting the international finan-
cial system, the Financial Action Task Force against
Money Laundering (FATF), as an organization that sets
standards in countering money laundering and terrorist
financing, formulates special recommendations to pre-
vent terrorist financing focusing on key mechanisms
used by terrorist organizations to transfer capital: money
transfers, electronic transfers and non-profit legal enti-
ties. In addition, the special law applicable in a national
aspect (LMFT), which aims to "Prevent and Disclose the
Action of Individuals, Legal Entities, Groups and Or-
ganizations Focused on the Financing of Terrorism"4,
indicates measures in respect of the persons liable, ch.
commercial banks to counteract this type of crime as fol-
lows5:
• Customer Identification, Verification and Verifi-
cation of Compliance with Restriction Lists;
• Implementation of additional identification and
verification measures, follow-up on the basis of risk as-
sessment;
• Blocking of cash, financial assets or other pro-
perty;
• Prohibition to provide financial services, cash, fi-
nancial assets or other property;
• Reporting in case of doubt or when implementing
a measure under the LMFT.
In the relationships with their clients, credit institu-
tions are obliged to apply the legal measures in cases
where the participants in the operation (the account
owner, the beneficiary) are from countries known to
support terrorist activities and organizations. Charities,
non-profit legal entities, companies with no real activity,
and others without legal cause are often used for the pur-
T. Dimitrova
90
Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
pose of terrorist financing. The law also includes cases
where there is no comprehensive information about the
parties and the reason for the operation, operations and
transactions are executed without the presence of the cli-
ent or using new technical means, etc.
When establishing the appropriate prerequisites for
terrorist financing operations carried out through com-
mercial banks, the blocking of all cash, financial assets
and other property - property of the persons listed in the
restriction lists (see Article 5 of the LMFT) ) irrespec-
tive of the place of their possession, as well as any cash,
financial assets and other property held in possession of,
held or controlled by the persons listed. Immediately
blocking the funds of persons in full compliance with
the EU's restrictive lists for the implementation of UN
resolutions (Resolution 1267/2000 et seq.) And under
the relevant EU acts as well as funds or other assets
wholly or jointly owned or controlled, directly or indi-
rectly, by persons on lists, terrorists, terrorist financing
or terrorist organizations and others that are generated
by the above mentioned funds or assets.
The above-mentioned essential features and nor-
mative justification of terrorist financing processes are
sufficient grounds for each commercial bank to set up in
its structure a specialized service for controlling and pre-
venting the financing of terrorism to organize and con-
trol the implementation of the legal measures1. Conse-
quently, in performing its core business, each commer-
cial bank should monitor and prevent terrorist financing
processes in accordance with national law and relevant
international regulations and best practices by develop-
ing its own policy of prevention measures against use of
the bank for the above purposes.
As an initial measure to prevent the use of the bank
to finance terrorism, the processes of identification and
assessment of bank customers, as well as those related
to the monitoring of banking operations and the defini-
tion of some of them as suspect by Chief Operating Of-
ficer, ie the existing risk, are complex and require an
adequate material base at the disposal of the bank, incl.
specialized software applications, time resource, expert
potential. The main goal is to "block" the relationship
between credit institutions and criminals.
On the basis of the regulated and applicable in the
banking practice measures against the financing of ter-
rorism, each credit institution should write an internal
policy, rules and procedures to prevent its use for the
purpose of financing terrorism. In this connection and in
view of the above analysis, the following may be formu-
lated as exemplary principles:
• The Bank should not engage in relationships with
persons who are known to have been convicted or
charged with crimes such as terrorist financing;
1 See Art. 1 of the Law on Measures against Money Laundering (last amended 01.01.2017)
2 See more art. 32e of the Regulations for Implementation of the State Agency for National Security Act (adopted with
Decree of the Council of Ministers No 23 of 11.02.2008, promulgated in State Gazette, issue 17 of February 19, 2008, amended
and supplemented SG .63 of 12 August 2016, SG No. 66 of 23 August 2016
• The Bank should not engage in any relationship
with individuals, legal entities and groups believed to be
related to criminal activities, members of criminal or ter-
rorist organizations, or that they support politically or
fund such organizations;
• The Bank must not open or operate anonymous
accounts and accounts of fictitious names, perform fic-
titious transactions and transactions, and accept funds
and property suspected of being acquired through or in
connection with a crime or will be used to fund such.
Commercial banks should not enter into relation-
ships and do not provide financial services, funds, finan-
cial assets and other property to the persons included in
the list of natural persons, legal persons, groups and or-
ganizations to which the measures under the LMFT ap-
ply. In the event that a person included in the above list
is a client of the bank, his funds, financial assets and
other property are blocked. Payments and other disposi-
tions with the blocked accounts, cash and financial as-
sets are made with the permission of the Minister of Fi-
nance. In addition, when there are suspicions that certain
operations or transactions are directed to the financing
of terrorism, bank officers are required to immediately
notify the specialized internal intelligence service for
the control and prevention of money laundering and ter-
rorist financing of all additional facts and circumstances
famous. In the event of a suspicion of terrorist financing,
the Bank shall notify the Ministry of Interior and the
State Agency "National Security" (Article 9a of the
LMFT). In addition, the Bank shall report immediately
any significant suspicions of terrorist financing that are
likely to have a significant reputation for the Bank or its
financial position, such as cases involving senior go-
vernment officials or amounts over the statutory certain
dimensions.
The following report analyzes the SANS control-
ling activity of credit institutions in the field of "terrorist
financing" on the basis of historical data publicly dis-
closed through annual reporting documents. Realizing
its core business, incl. falling under the scope of the
LMFT, commercial banks are subject to constant moni-
toring and control by the specialized administrative di-
rectorate "Financial Intelligence" of SANS, which has
neither operational functions nor criminal detection
functions but has a legal basis for collecting information
without any limitation of banking, professional, profes-
sional or other secrecy as an intermediary unit for acce-
lerating and facilitating the exchange of information
between financial and law enforcement systems.
Based on the applicable legal norms, among the
main functions performed by the Directorate, incl. and
in respect of commercial banks2:
T. Dimitrova
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Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
• Organizing and conducting seminars, workshops
and other forms of training related to the implementation
of the LMFT on its own or jointly with the supervisory
bodies of the credit institutions;
• Current and incidental control of the commercial
banks for the fulfillment of the obligations under the
LMFT, as well as the acts for their implementation, incl.
drafting of acts of observation, acts for establishing ad-
ministrative violations under the LMFTS and drafting of
draft penal decrees;
• Develop reports on violations by commercial
banks, including an analysis of the breaches and pro-
posals for the measures to be taken to erase the conse-
quences of the violations and to prevent future viola-
tions;
• Interaction with other state bodies, carrying out
inspections, incl. jointly with the oversight bodies (Bul-
garian National Bank) on the activities of commercial
banks in the implementation of measures against terror-
ist financing, as well as in the case of suspicion of fi-
nancing of terrorism;
• Keeping registers of information received from
commercial banks (including terrorist financing), ex-
change of information with security and public order
services at national and supranational level, financial in-
telligence analysis, gathering of additional information,
giving of conclusions, sending of files to the relevant
state services, etc.
As stated above, the function of the Directorate for
the organization and conduct of trainings on the imple-
mentation of the LMFT is a priority, as the educational
level and the competences acquired are a factor for in-
creasing the efficiency in the fight against the financing
of terrorism. Summing up the information published in
the annual reports of the FAS - SANS, for the period
2012-2016, the Directorate carried out a total of 73 train-
ings, resulting in the training of 2454 persons in the ca-
pacity of representatives of the Institute of Certified
Public Accountants (ICPA) , Commercial Banks, Non-
Profit Legal Entities (NGOs), the National Revenue
Agency (NRA), real estate agents and others. As illus-
trated in Figure 1, the number of trainings of commer-
cial banks represented 22% in the structure of the train-
ings, which gave them a second position after the train-
ings of representatives of the ICPA (26%).
Fig. 1. Structure of the trainings conducted by SAD FR-SANS in connection with the implementation
of the LMML and the LMFT (2012-2016)
Similarly, commercial banks also occupy 14% of
the number of trained persons, compared to 33% for the
leader – ICPM. Considering that the number of banks
(including their employees) operating on the Bulgarian
market is considerably smaller than the number of certi-
fied accountants, it can be assumed that for the FAS –
SANS the commercial banks are priority institutions for
the prevention of money laundering and the financing of
terrorism, mainly because of their specific activity –
operating not only on their own, but also on attracted
1 See. by detailed Dochev, H., Challenges of new legal entities on the European internal market, Challenges of economic
science and practice in the process of joining the European Union, Nis, 2007, p. 319-330.
money, which poses a serious risk to their real origin.
For the next 10% comparison, the number of trainings
conducted by representatives of NGOs and NRA, fol-
lowed by 7% by the real estate agents. The remaining
25% are outside the reach of the positioning, as they in-
clude all training with a share of less than 5% in the total
number of courses, incl. investment intermediaries,
management companies, insurers1, insurance intermedi-
aries, financial institutions, pension insurance compa-
nies, Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), leasing
T. Dimitrova
92
Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
companies, lawyers, postal operators, private enforce-
ment agents, traders, notaries, state and local bodies.
On the basis of the information presented in Table
1, trends in training can be traced. Following the above
considerations, the factual data showing the persistence
in the training of two categories of institutions through-
out the analyzed period, including the commercial banks
with two trainings and 50 trained persons in the first
year – 2012 (the lowest values for the period) and five
training sessions with 150 trained persons in 2015 (the
highest values for the period). Concerning the others
presented, trainings were carried out once (NRA – 2012)
or a maximum of twice (NGOs and real estate agents –
2012 and 2014) throughout the time slice.
Table 1
Trainings conducted by SAD FR-SANS in connection with the implementation
of the LMML and the LMFT (2012-2016)1
Institutions
2012 2014 2015 2016
Number
of train-
ings
Number
of trained
persons
Number
of train-
ings
Number
of trained
persons
Number
of train-
ings
Number
of trained
persons
Number
of train-
ings
Number
of trained
persons
1 Institute of
certified pub-
lic account-
ants 5 257 5 176 5 185 4 200
2 Commercial
banks 2 50 3 76 5 150 3 56
3 Non-profit le-
gal entities 6 213 1
4 National
Revenue
Agency 7 278
5 Real estate
agents 4 113 1 14
6 Other 7 233 8 266 3 110 4 77
Total: 31 1144 18 532 13 445 11 333
According to the applicable regulations, commer-
cial banks are obliged to report to the FAD - SANS the
so-called dubious operations. As such, financial opera-
tions are classified and, after further studies by bank em-
ployees, it is not possible to clarify their nature, which
is sufficient to be assigned a higher risk, and to the cat-
egory of "suspicious transactions". In case of suspicion
of terrorist financing, the bank employee must:
• Delay the execution of the suspicious transaction,
if possible, and immediately notify the bank branch line;
• Collect information on the essential elements of
the operation, relevant supporting documents and other
identification data;
• Indicate in chronological order all the details of
the suspect case, including any circumstances that ap-
pear unusual, irregular or questionable;
• Keep all facts and circumstances secret;
• Disclose to the line the entire available infor-
mation about the client and his operations by completing
a special form.
When the additional studies carried out by the spe-
cialized internal service for control and prevention of
1 The information is summarized and processed by the author on the basis of published annual reports of the SAD FR -
SANS (http://www.dans.bg/bg/msip-091209-menu-bul/fidannualreports30052012-mitem-bul).
terrorism financing can not establish a good reason or a
logical economic explanation for the implementation of
unusual behavior, the case is reported to SANS. The
data and documents collected by the bank are used only
for the purposes of the LMFT.
The official information sources indicate that
10930 suspicious transactions were reported for the pe-
riod 2011-2016, 76% of which were commercial banks
and the other from other institutions (see Figure 2).
As can be seen from Table 2, the number of reports
on suspicious transactions under the LMML and LMFT
from the commercial banks to the FAS - SANS ADS has
an upward trend, in 2011 it is 1035 and in 2016 it is
2390, ie. there is over 130% growth within the observed
time span. It should be borne in mind that in the structure
of generally reported suspicious transactions by years,
commercial banks' DSBs take values of 69% in 2012
(minimum) to 82% in 2015 (maximum), regardless of
the above-mentioned upward trend the analyzed period,
due to the fluctuations in the value of STR by other in-
stitutions.
T. Dimitrova
93
Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
Fig. 2. Sources of suspicious transaction reports (STR) under the LMML
and LMFT for the period 2011-2016
Table 2
Reports on suspicious transactions under the LMML
and the LMFT for the period 2011-2016 (number)1
Period
Suspicious transaction
reports (commercial
banks)
Suspicious transaction
reports (other
institutions)
Suspicious transaction
reports (total)
2011 1035 393 1428
2012 1257 564 1821
2013 1592 641 2233
2015 2013 448 2461
2016 2390 597 2987
2011-2016: 8287 2643 10930
Realizing its main functions in the area of preven-
tion against terrorist financing, FAS – SANS points out
among the main indicators and risks (including in rela-
tion to commercial banks) concerning the financing of
global terrorism the following2:
• Opening an account with false identification and
using fake documents when ordering/receiving transla-
tions;
• Providing the same mobile phone numbers, ad-
dresses or job information to different people when
opening accounts or ordering money transfers;
• Receiving cash transfers through fast pay systems
from individuals with locations in countries around
conflict zones;
• Use of mobile payment systems to perform trans-
actions, account balance checking, access to electronic
portfolios and other online services without the physical
1 The information is summarized and processed by the author on the basis of published annual reports of the SAD FR -
SANS (http://www.dans.bg/bg/msip-091209-menu-bul/fidannualreports30052012-mitem-bul).
2 URL: http://www.dans.bg/images/stories/FID/ANNUAL%20REPORT_2016.pdf.
presence of the client (sequential logging from a mobile
phone or other device from different IP addresses from
nearby locations or within them conflict zones);
• Fundraising through public funding platforms for
extremist purposes, often camouflaged in the form of
charity transactions;
• Financial transactions relating to antiques from
conflict zones (including coins) put up for sale on the
Internet, and in particular in the so- "Dark net" or social
networks.
The above analysis is sufficient grounds, on a na-
tional scale, for the commercial banks to be constituted
as a priority subject of permanent monitoring and con-
trol by the specialized administrative directorate "Finan-
cial Intelligence" of SANS in order to study, analyze and
disclose information received under the procedure and
at the conditions of the LMFT, as they are obviously
T. Dimitrova
94
Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
among the main options used for the purposes of money
laundering and terrorist financing.
In summary, the main statement of the study pro-
vides the basis for the following conclusions:
First. Credit institutions are among the key mech-
anisms for terrorist financing, which is a prerequisite for
the eventual occurrence of risk situations for the bank
itself and for its clients. Each commercial bank should
develop its own terrorist financing policy that contains
adequate measures to counteract these crimes and their
application to "block" the relationship between credit in-
stitutions and criminals.
Second. Measures to prevent the use of the bank
for terrorist financing purposes should be aimed at:
identifying customers and actual owners and taking ap-
propriate action to verify their identification; customer
assessment; monitoring customer operations; disclosure
of information (reporting) about suspicious transactions.
Third. The activities of credit institutions are sub-
ject to constant monitoring in relation to the application
of a number of regulations and institutions concerning
the role of banks in complying with the legal norms
against terrorist financing. In order to have an effect, it
is necessary to develop and strictly implement policies
both nationally and internationally, to be implemented
in close cooperation and constant communication bet-
ween the responsible institutions.
Fourth. On a national scale, commercial banks
have been constituted as a priority subject of continuous
monitoring and control by the specialized administrative
directorate "Financial Intelligence" of the State Agency
for National Security (SANS) in order to investigate, an-
alyze and disclose information received under the terms
and conditions of the LMML and as they are among the
main options used for money laundering and terrorist fi-
nancing purposes.
Fifth. For the period 2012 - 2016, SAD FR-SANS
conducted a total of 73 trainings on the implementation
of the LMML and LMFT with trained 2454 persons, in-
cluding commercial banks with 22% of the total train-
ings and 14% of the total trainees. identifies them as pri-
ority institutions with regard to the prevention of money
laundering and the financing of terrorism, mainly be-
cause of their specific activities – operating not only on
their own, but also on attracted money containing a se-
rious risk in terms of their real origin.
Sixth. During the period 2011-2016, 10930 suspi-
cious transactions under the LMML and LMFT were re-
ported to the SAD FR – SANS, of which 76% of the
commercial banks (with over 130% growth within the
observed time interval) and the rest from the other insti-
tutions. For the same period, notifications of payment
1 Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering - the organization that sets standards in countering money laundering
and terrorist financing.
2 An organization responsible for Europe for the prevention of money laundering.
3 See more https://www.egmontgroup.org/.
4 See more http://www.bis.org/bcbs/charter.htm#classification.
transactions in cash over BGN 30000, 99% (251600)
were reported by the commercial banks, and their rela-
tive share varied between 98% and 99% during the same
period, which is sufficient grounds for taking the neces-
sary legal measures to prevent money laundering and
terrorist financing.
In order to have an effect on the implementation of
statutory, regulatory and internal commercial bank reg-
ulations on the prevention of terrorist financing as well
as monitoring and control procedures in relation to their
core business, close cooperation between credit institu-
tions and competent authorities dealing with suspicious
customers and financial operations. Supranational level
policy for combating the financing of terrorism is deter-
mined by the activity of a number of institutions, includ-
ing the Task Force on financial measures Anti-Money
Laundering (FATF1 - Financial Action Task Force on
Money Laundering), the Committee of Experts on the
Evaluation of Laundering money the Council of Europe
(MONEYVAL Committee2), the Union for increasing
interaction between financial intelligence units world-
wide (GROUP EGMONT3), the Basel Committee on
Banking supervision (Basel Committee of Banking su-
pervision4), the world Bank, the International Curren-
cies fund and others. For the implementation of interna-
tional and national regulations regarding prevention
against the financing of terrorism, a number of law en-
forcement, control and supervisory state institutions are
operating in Bulgaria - Specialized Administrative Di-
rectorate "Financial Intelligence" of the State Agency
for National Security (SAD FR - SANS), Ministry of the
Interior, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bul-
garia, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), the Control-
ling Agencies at the Ministry of Finance, etc. At the
same time, the improvement and modernization of the
national and supranational regulatory framework is a
sine qua non for real countering the latest criminal prac-
tices for which priority is being given and to credit in-
stitutions.
***
The above analysis is sufficient grounds, on a na-
tional scale, for the commercial banks to be constituted
as a priority subject of permanent monitoring and con-
trol by the specialized administrative directorate "Finan-
cial Intelligence" of SANS in order to study, analyze and
disclose information received under the procedure and
at the conditions of the LMFT because they are obvi-
ously among the main options used for the purpose of
financing terrorism. For this reason, the global policy
regarding the fight against the mentioned crime places
the activity of the credit institutions on the legal norms
T. Dimitrova
95
Економічний вісник Донбасу № 4(50), 2017
and the focus of their activities in order to prevent their
use for the implementation of criminal schemes. This is
a good reason for credit institutions to set strict and
transparent internal bank rules and procedures to be re-
spected when selecting clients and executing financial
operations and to prioritize the prevention of their use
for the purpose of financing terrorism.
Reference
1. Petrunov, G. 2008. Countering Money Laun-
dering in Bulgaria: Status and Perspectives. Sofia: Risk
Monitor. 2. Pushkarova, I. Money laundring. Distinc-
tion from offenses related to him. Teza, No.8 and
9/2014. 3. Dochev, H. Challenges of the new legal enti-
ties on the European internal market, в Izazovi
ekonomske nauke i prakse u procesu pridruzivanja
Evropskoj uniji, Nis, 2007, с. 319-330. 4. FATF,
Money Laundering Using New Payment Methods,
2010, p. 36. 5. Savona, E. and M., De Feo. 1997.
International Money Laundering Trends and Prevention
/ Control Policies. In: Savona, E. (ed.) Responding to
Money Laundering. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic
Publishers. 6. Directive 2005/60 / EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the
prevention of the use of the financial system for the pur-
pose of money laundering and terrorist financing.
7. State Agency for National Security Act. 8. Law on
Credit Institutions (last amended SG No. 63 of
04.08.2017). 9. Law on Measures Against Money Laun-
dering (last amended 01.01.2017). 10. Law on Measures
Against Financing of Terrorism (last amended
01.01.2017). 11. Penal Code (last amended SG No. 54
of 05.07.2017). 12. URL: http://www.dans.bg/bg/msip-
091209-menu-bul/fidannualreports. 13. URL: http://
www.nbu.bg/PUBLIC/IMAGES/File/departamenti/pra
vo/llaw_journal/Oct_2011/11_anelia%20vladimirova_.
pdf. 14. URL: https://www.egmontgroup.org/. 15.
URL: http://www.bis.org/bcbs/charter.htm# classifica
tion. 16. URL: http://www.dans.bg/images/stories/FID/
ANNUAL%20REPORT_2016.pdf.
Дімітрова Т. Комерційні банки як механізм
проти фінансування тероризму
У процесі глобалізації необхідність блокування
фінансових потоків у терористичні організації стає
все більш відчутною. Боротьба з фінансуванням те-
роризму стає національним і наднаціональним пріо-
ритетом, а кредитні установи є одним з основних ме-
ханізмів здійснення таких злочинів і тому охоплю-
ються численними положеннями та інститутами, що
стосуються їх ролі в контролі та їх запобіганню.
Мета цього дослідження – описати місце комерцій-
них банків у процесах фінансування тероризму,
представивши їх невід'ємні характеристики в рам-
ках Спеціального закону про заходи щодо фінансу-
вання тероризму.
Ключові слова: глобалізація, комерційні банки,
тероризм, фінанси, механізм.
Димитрова Т. Коммерческие банки как ме-
ханизм против финансирования терроризма
В процессе глобализации необходимость бло-
кирования финансовых потоков в террористические
организации становится все более ощутимой.
Борьба с финансированием терроризма становится
национальным и наднациональным приоритетом, а
кредитные учреждения являются одним из основ-
ных механизмов совершения таких преступлений и
поэтому охватываются многочисленными положе-
ниями и институтами, касающимися их роли в кон-
троле и их предотвращении. Цель этого исследова-
ния – описать место коммерческих банков в процес-
сах финансирования терроризма, представив их
неотъемлемые характеристики в рамках Специаль-
ного закона о мерах по финансированию терро-
ризма.
Ключевые слова: глобализация, коммерческие
банки, терроризм, финансы, механизм.
Dimitrova T. Commercial banks as a mecha-
nism against financing terrorism
In the process of globalization, the need to block
financial flows to terrorist organizations is becoming
more and more tangible. The fight against terrorist fi-
nancing is becoming a national and supranational prior-
ity, and credit institutions are among the main mecha-
nisms for committing such crimes, and are therefore
covered by numerous regulations and institutions con-
cerning their role in controlling and preventing them.
The purpose of this study is to outline the commercial
banks' place in terrorist financing processes by present-
ing their inherent characteristics within the scope of the
Special Act on Measures Against Financing of Terror-
ism.
Keywords: globalization, commercial banks, ter-
rorism, finance, mechanism.
Received by the editors: 21.11.2017
and final form 22.12.2017
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