Such instances reflect widespread public resistance to allowing personal financial information to fall into state or commercial hands. The irony of this debate is that the ability of launderers to move and conceal money once it has already penetrated the financial system is at least as important as the initial role of the banks. Criminals move money between banks, between different financial instruments, and in and out of tangible assets such as businesses or property. They try to change the shape and size of the financial holding by using different currencies and by adding to and subtracting from the amount so that it is more difficult to identify. The obsessive focus on banks displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the mechanisms of laundering.
Laundering is a global problem from which no jurisdiction is immune.
Some island economies have facilities that could constitute legitimate tax avoidance mechanisms under, for example, British tax law but are exploited by U.S. residents for illegal tax evasion. But these differences alone do not make such locations more likely to be involved in laundering than so-called onshore centers. In fact, money launderers seeking a legal framework that provides them with shelter could do worse than to choose the United States. Once the money goes from cash into electronic form, the United States has many structures that can assist launderers. For instance, launderers can use the shield provided by minimal corporate reporting in, say, the state of Delaware.