The Role of Banks in Monitoring and Detection of Money Laundering Operations (An Empirical Study on a Sample of Commercial Bank and the Central bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain)

The present paper aims to examine the role of banks in controlling and detecting money-laundering operations in Bahrain, define the responsibility of banks in money laundering cases, clarify the concepts for money laundering and risks, and present the recommendations that minimize the phenomenon of money laundering. The sample involved (102) employees from the Central Bank of Bahrain and some commercial banks, (22) members of the Central Bank of Bahrain Bank, and (80) employees from some commercial banks. The results showed a positive relationship between methods of countering money-laundering and understanding the employee’s regulations and legislations on money laundering. Moreover, there was a statistically significant relationship between methods of countering money laundering in commercial banks and the perception of staff regulations and money laundering legislation. Furthermore, there were moral differences in the statistical significance among the methods used to counter money laundering in commercial banks and the Central Bank of Bahrain and the perception of staff regulations and legislation due to some demographic variables. The study recommends that the government should control the availability of equipment to combat money laundering in commercial banks. In addition, all judicial, legislative and executive authorities should cooperate to combat money laundering. Besides, laws should be enacted to combat money laundering, bribery, cronyism and malfeasance at all levels