Panama and Nicaragua are among the ten countries in Latin America with the highest risk of money laundering, according to the Basel Institute of Governance.

The anti-money laundering index (AML) prepared by the Basel Institute of Governance places Panama in fourth place in the list of countries with the highest risk of money laundering and financing of terrorist activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Panama is surpassed only by Paraguay, Haiti and Bolivia, according to the index. 

Central America is closely followed by Nicaragua, in the eighth position, ahead of Guatemala, which is ranked 14th in the list of Latin American countries. 

Honduras (16), Costa Rica (18) and El Salvador (21) received lower scores, and although they are countries prone to money laundering, according to the Basel Institute of Governance, the risk is lower than in the aforementioned countries.

According to the Basel Institute of Governance,   “… While most countries legally comply with current rules to combat money launderingand terrorist financing, many countries are short on compliance (sometimes severely short) in terms of effective implementation and compliance with those laws.”

“…  By including data from the FATF, which in recent years has used an evaluation methodology that focuses not only on technical compliance but also on law enforcement capacity, the Basel AML Index is increasingly able to capture this significant difference.”

See details on the AML index complied by the Basel Institute of Governance.