Credas Technologies has analysed global Google Trends data for search terms related to AML to see how the subject’s Interest Score has changed since the start of the year.
Interest Scores represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 indicates peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. And so on.
In January 2023, the worldwide Interest Score for the subject of AML was 12.5. In May, the score was 17.1, representing a 37% increase in interest.
Note on scores
Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time.
A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means that there was not enough data for this term.
The strongest current Interest Score is coming from India with May’s data showing a score of 21.5.
Australia and UAE both have Interest Scores of 12.3, and Canada scores 10.3.
The UK’s score of 8.7 places it mid-table, but it also marks a 97.2% increase in search interest since January.
This is the third-largest increase of all nation’s analysed by Credas, with just the UAE (123.6%) and the US (109.9%) seeing a larger spike in AML search activity.
Tim Barnett, CEO of Credas Technologies, said: “The issue of money laundering is growing in the public consciousness. The digitisation of monies and payments has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for criminals looking to clean their illegal funds. The subject of AML is, therefore, more prevalent than ever before and is now a hot topic in industries such as property, banking, and e-commerce.
Here in the UK, we’re not quite at the top of the AML game when it comes to awareness and knowledge, and as we speak, there are hundreds of criminals looking to take advantage of this fact.
But it’s great to see the nation’s interest increasing and the search for information climbing. The more we know, the more we can do to thwart money-launderers and as government legislations start to trickle through to ensure industries honour their AML obligations, the individual businesses that form those industries can be getting ahead of the game and set an example for their peers.”