Keeping the Financial Markets Clean

Since ancient times, governments have strived to avoid large sums of money remaining outside their control, primarily to curb the use of such money in criminal or revolutionary activities. Brazil enacted its first antimoney laundering measure in 1990, it provided for identification of Brazilian taxpayers and extinguished bearer securities, making concealment of assets from suspicious activities more difficult in Brazil.

Since 1990, the county has added to and refined its regulations to prevent abuses in the financial markets. Brazil is strongly committed to the creation and improvement of anti-laundering and anti-corruption mechanisms to curb criminal activities and avoid the use of local financial markets for such illicit purposes. The government's active role in legislating against money laundering serves as motivation for Brazilian companies to adopt high standards of corporate governance and prevent tax evasion and the creation of slush funds.

On March 3, 1998, Brazil enacted its landmark anti-money laundering legislation, Federal...