The international financial system is not only economic, but political. Making a Killing explores the often-overlooked world of terrorist financing and the involvement of the international banking system. In order to address the threat of terrorist organizations in a post-9/11 world – and how they are funded and financed in particular – the international community has constructed a vast architecture of counterterrorist finance laws, policies, and institutions.
Connecting the fields of security studies, political economy, and finance, Ian Oxnevad argues that a bank’s institutional link to a state (as a state-owned bank or a bank with strong state connections) will protect it from any enforcement action for violations of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations. In the face of states blocking such enforcement actions, these regulations prove ineffective in preventing the financing of terrorism, as the state’s self-interest supersedes its interest in preventing terrorist financing.
Making a Killing seeks to assess how effective new laws and regulations have been, as well as to identify best practices for future attempts to counter the financing of terrorism.

Ian Michael Oxnevad is a political economist and international relations scholar teaching at the University of California, Irvine.

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“Making a Killing is an essential read for scholars, policymakers, and private-sector professionals looking to understand the shadowy business of terrorist financing and its relation to the international banking system. This book offers a clear and concise overview of the evolution of counterterrorist finance laws, policies, and institutions since 9/11, and comprehensively evaluates their successes and failures in preventing terrorists and terrorist groups from moving money through the licit financial system.” Colin P. Clarke, the Soufan Group