Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)

What Is Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)?

Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) is a set of government laws, regulations, and other practices that are intended to restrict access to funding and financial services for those whom the government designates as terrorists. By tracking down the source of the funds that support terrorist activities, law enforcement may be able to prevent some of those activities from occurring.

CFT is also known as Counterfinancing of Terrorism or Countering the Financing of Terrorism.

How Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Works

Terrorists use different methods to finance their activities and conceal the sources of their funds, so financial regulators and law enforcement must use a variety of techniques to catch these criminals.

The funds may come from legal sources, such as legitimate businesses, government funding, and religious or cultural organizations, or from illegal sources, such as drug trafficking, kidnapping, and government corruption. The funds may also come from an illegal source but appear to come from a legal source, through money laundering. 

Money laundering and terrorism financing are often linked. When law enforcement is able to detect and prevent money laundering activities, it may also be preventing those funds from being used to finance acts of terror. Combating money laundering is key to CFT. Instead of trying to catch a criminal plotting or committing an act of terrorism through other means, law enforcement officials may address the problem from the money side by pursuing the flow of funding that supports the activities.

CFT policies involve investigating and analyzing suspicious financial flows and the routine surveillance and collection of vast amounts of data regarding transactions across the economy. CFT efforts may focus on charities, informal banking activities (such as hawala), and registered money service businesses, among other entities. However, most CFT policies and regulations by necessity apply broadly to entire populations and financial markets.

A major goal of CFT is to curb illegal money laundering.

National and International Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Initiatives

CFT policies largely originate and are modeled upon the report Forty Recommendations, which was published by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF, which is composed of 37 countries and two regional organizations (the European Commission and the Gulf Co-operation Council), works to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism through creating standardized processes to stop threats to the international financial system. Following the FATF, world organizations, international financial institutions, and many national governments have pursued CFT initiatives and policies.

At the level of international institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), CFT includes teaching financial investigative techniques to law enforcement, teaching prosecutors how to win money laundering cases, and training financial regulatory authorities to identify suspicious activity. The FATF also collects and shares information about trends in money laundering and terrorism financing and works closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the United Nations.

At the national level, CFT efforts are essentially anti-money laundering policies. The primary mechanism of anti-money laundering laws and regulations is to compel individuals and businesses to disclose information about financial transactions, organizational and ownership structures, and the identities of individuals and entities involved to government authorities. Once identified, suspicious financial activities can be referred to law enforcement for prosecution, and the assets may be seized or frozen.

Financial institutions play an important role in combating the financing of terrorism because terrorists often rely on them, especially banks, to transfer money. Laws that require banks to perform due diligence on their customers and to report suspicious transactions can help prevent terrorism.

When there are differences in anti-money laundering and CFT laws among countries, especially when some countries offer greater financial freedom and privacy than others, proponents of CFT will pressure those countries to increase financial restrictions and surveillance on the grounds that they may otherwise allow terrorists to secretly move money. By creating standardized procedures for the financial sector, the criminal justice system, and certain businesses and professions, terrorism financing becomes harder to hide.

Benefits and Costs of Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)

The main intended benefit of CFT is to disrupt and prevent the incidence of terrorist activity. An additional reason for CFT is that the use of the financial system by criminals engaged in money laundering and terrorist financing may threaten the stability of the financial system. The public may not trust the integrity of the financial system if it cannot detect illicit activities.

CFT also imposes major costs on society. The most significant of these is that CFT policies often reduce or eliminate privacy and anonymity in financial and other transactions for all people in society.

Whether or not they are engaged in financing terrorism, CFT policies require everyone to compromise their financial privacy. Information about all major transactions has to be collected in order to detect money laundering. Because people value their own privacy, this represents an enormous loss to society, in addition to the administrative burden of the disclosures themselves.

FATF, or the Financial Action Task Force, is an inter-governmental law enforcement body to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. It currently has 37 member countries, as well as the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

As it is carried out through law enforcement, CFT is implicitly (or explicitly) achieved through violence and the threat of violence or other coercion against civilians and private businesses. This raises a moral issue because the threat of one type of potential violence, terrorist attacks, is simply replaced by a threat of violence by the government against everyone who does business.

Finally, flowing from the other costs, CFT raises a distinct risk that widespread financial surveillance could be abused by the authorities. Once in place, CFT policies can be used against any individuals or groups that a government chooses to go after, simply by labeling them "terrorists."

These powers could be used to target and persecute political dissidents, legitimate protest movements, or specific segments of the population that a government wants to discriminate against.

CFT Finance FAQs 

What Does CFT Stand for in Banking?

CFT, or Combating the Financing of Terrorism, refers to a set of standards and regulatory systems intended to prevent terrorist groups from laundering money through the banking system or other financial networks. These practices require banks to collect identifying information on their clients, as well as the origins of significant funds.

What Is the AML Act of 2020?

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020, or AML Act, was a significant overhaul of the United States' AML regulations. The act creates uniform requirements for corporations, companies, and other businesses operating within the United States to report on the beneficiaries of any of their assets. It also establishes greater cooperation and oversight between different government bodies, law enforcement bodies, banks, and other financial institutions.

What Is CFT Compliance?

CFT compliance, or Combating the Financing of Terrorism Compliance, refers to the set of banking policies and standards used by financial institutions to adhere to the requirements of international Anti-Money Laundering laws. These standards usually require financial institutions to collect information about their clients, identify the origin of their funds, and report suspicious transactions.

What Are the Major Sources of Terrorist Funding?

Terrorist groups may also secure funding from illegal sources, such as drug trafficking, extortion, or smuggling. They may also secure donations through legal routes, such as wealthy benefactors, front organizations, or business activities.

What Is Terror Financing?

Terror financing is a three-step process of collecting, transmitting, and distributing funds for terrorist activities, without catching the attention of law enforcement. This involves raising money, either through illegal or legal channels, and then laundering it through the financial system to conceal its origin and destination. Finally, the laundered funds are distributed to terror cells, who use it to purchase weapons, pay for supplies, or otherwise advance the group's goals.