Religious bodies, AML/CFT-P in implementation challenges

They provide comfort, support to the needy, hope and strength in the daily lives of many people.  To survive, these institutions rely on donations from worshippers and supporters and income from investments or any business they operate. 

Religious institutions though are prime targets for financial crime.  Weak internal controls and a general lack of accountability by some to parishioners, offer managers of religious institutions ample opportunity to commit fraud or for fraud to be committed upon them by external parties.  There are numerous examples of internal fraud being committed by religious leaders.  For example, in 2019 a pastor of a church who was also a bank manager in South Carolina USA, was convicted of bank fraud and identity theft after he used his position to obtain loans and lines of credit for elderly customers.  He laundered the money from his crimes through his church.