Abstract
Money laundering and terrorist financing severely threaten the financial system. As such it is imperative that countries globally actively work towards combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. South Africa and the United States are both members of the Financial Action Task Force and are therefore required to incorporate the global standards in their respective anti-money laundering and terrorist financing frameworks. As the foundation of any anti-money laundering and terrorist financing framework, this paper aims to demonstrate both the similarities and differences that exist when these global standards are implemented and applied domestically. As the latest amendment to the global standards the risk based approach will be considered together with customer due diligence, beneficial ownership and risk management compliance programmes...