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Hidden ownership in suspicious transactions - experimental evidence on anti-money laundering reporting priorities in Norway

Anne Marthe Bjønness & Ivar Kolstad

International Review of Law and Economics2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irle.2026.106334article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Concealing illicit funds through hidden ownership is a well-known money laundering method. This paper analyzes whether non-transparent ownership receives sufficient attention relative to other red flags of money laundering, using a randomized discrete choice experiment of 334 Norwegian anti-money laundering (AML) professionals. The results show that while unknown beneficial ownership increases the odds that a transaction is reported as suspicious, it increases reporting odds by only about half as much as unknown origin of funds. This suggests that although non-transparent ownership is considered a primary red flag of money laundering, and despite the increased attention this issue has received by international policymakers, non-transparent ownership may still receive insufficient attention by AML professionals. Paradoxically, our analysis indicates that industry professionals consider the AML reporting system to be well-functioning as there are no major differences between which transactions respondents say are reported and which transactions should be reported to combat money laundering. • Randomized discrete choice experiment of 334 Norwegian anti-money laundering professionals • Unknown origin of funds is the most important red flag for a transaction to be reported as suspicious • Non-transparent ownership may receive insufficient attention by anti-money laundering professionals • No major differences between which transactions are reported, and which transactions should be reported to combat money laundering • Industry professionals consider the anti-money laundering reporting system to be well-functioning

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irle.2026.106334

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@article{anne2026,
  title        = {{Hidden ownership in suspicious transactions - experimental evidence on anti-money laundering reporting priorities in Norway}},
  author       = {Anne Marthe Bjønness & Ivar Kolstad},
  journal      = {International Review of Law and Economics},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irle.2026.106334},
}

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Hidden ownership in suspicious transactions - experimental evidence on anti-money laundering reporting priorities in Norway

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.