When Thomson Reuters surveyed a global group of legal and compliance professionals recently about anti-money laundering issues, nearly one-third said their companies have experienced some form of a regulatory action in this space.

But 16 percent said they weren't sure, an answer that really bothered Mark Haddad, vice president of the corporate segment for Thomson Reuters.

Thomson Reuters conducted the survey of 438 AML compliance leaders connected with the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, and Haddad discussed the results at a recent ACAMS conference.

“How can I mobilize a large group of people to comply with regulations or with a consent decree if 16 percent aren't even sure if their company is subject to an action?” Haddad asked in an interview with Corporate Counsel. “It highlights the operational challenge for this group, and the disconnect going on in their operations.” 

Respondents said the greatest operational challenges for their financial institutions stemmed from increased regulations (38 percent), a lack of properly trained staff (31 percent) and budget constraints (28 percent).

“As new regulations continue to be implemented, two-thirds of the survey respondents noted they anticipate an increase in their workload in the coming year related to anti-money laundering and customer due diligence,” Haddad said.

And among the challenges, the professionals said the rules creating the most workload were local regulations, such as those from the New York Department of Financial Services. In second place were the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) rules enacted by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; the UBO rules are set to take effect in May 2018.

The FinCEN rules require financial institutions to validate who is the beneficial owner of any account. According to the survey, at the moment, 89 percent of organizations simply verify UBO information by asking the customer, who may be a frontman for a money launderer.

Some 58 percent of survey participants cite the inability to validate UBO data as their greatest operating challenge.

Only three in five respondents said they were confident their organizations will be able to comply with the new FinCEN rules by the deadline.

In other findings, the report said:

• An estimated $800 billion to $2 trillion is laundered every year by the global financial industry, often making it an unwitting financier for terrorist networks, drug cartels and other criminal groups.

• While filing timely and accurate suspicious-activity reports is vital for an effective AML program, a majority of survey participants stated they did not know how many of their reports were false positives or false negatives.

• The top priority for the professionals in the next year is to improve data management and quality.

• Making more informed budget decisions is key, as 72 percent of respondents did not know their organizations' dedicated budget for anti-money laundering/customer due diligence screening.