Anti-Money Laundering in the Insurance Sector

Abstract

The insurance sector mainly consists of insurance companies, insurance agencies, brokers, and reinsurers. For many years, false damages, without being linked to money, have undoubtedly been the most attractive aspect of the insurance industry. However, for quite some time, the insurance sector is also used by money launders to launder crime revenues due to the increasing volume of money transactions day by day. In order to mitigate the risk of money laundering, the insurance sector in Turkey is implementing the compliance program of Turkish Law No: 5549 on “prevention of laundering proceeds of crime.” The main components of this compliance program are the identification of the customers and reporting of suspicious transactions. It is concluded that the risk of money laundering should also be considered during damages and compensation payments, especially in life and pension companies. Policy and contract cancellations should be periodically reviewed, and the reasons for cancellations should be documented well.