Norway has attained a “low-risk” money laundering rating, how could this be applied globally?

Purpose - – This paper aims to analyze thoroughly all of the sources of research used to develop the money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) low-risk rating, a rating attained by Norway according to the Basel Institute of Governance, and determine the reasons why Norway is one of only two countries in the world according to the 2012 report, with the other being Estonia, to gain an overall low-risk ML and TF rating. Design/methodology/approach - – The differences between the USA and Norway which has obtained a low-risk ranking, were compared and contrasted. Findings - – Beginning with the Basel Institute Rating index as a legitimate source for use in assessing anti-money-laundering (AML)/TF risk, and the amount of documentation used in the index’s methodology, it has been proven that the low-risk rating Norway has received is well deserved, and that the US rating of medium risk is also deserved for the time the report was published. Achieving a low-risk rating is not as ambiguous as recently thought and neither is its application on a global scale. Originality/value - – The paper identifies practical areas of improvement and concerns in addressing the overall issue of ML and terrorist financing.