<P> The September 11 attacks in 2001, which led to the Patriot Act in the US and similar legislation worldwide, led to a new emphasis on money laundering laws to combat terrorism financing . The Group of Seven (G7) nations used the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering to put pressure on governments around the world to increase surveillance and monitoring of financial transactions and share this information between countries . Starting in 2002, governments around the world upgraded money laundering laws and surveillance and monitoring systems of financial transactions . Anti money laundering regulations have become a much larger burden for financial institutions and enforcement has stepped up significantly . During 2011--2015 a number of major banks faced ever - increasing fines for breaches of money laundering regulations . This included HSBC, which was fined $1.9 billion in December 2012, and BNP Paribas, which was fined $8.9 billion in July 2014 by the US government . Many countries introduced or strengthened border controls on the amount of cash that can be carried and introduced central transaction reporting systems where all financial institutions have to report all financial transactions electronically . For example, in 2006, Australia set up the AUSTRAC system and required the reporting of all financial transactions . </P> <P> Money obtained from certain crimes, such as extortion, insider trading, drug trafficking, and illegal gambling is "dirty" and needs to be "cleaned" to appear to have been derived from legal activities, so that banks and other financial institutions will deal with it without suspicion . Money can be laundered by many methods which vary in complexity and sophistication . </P> <P> Money laundering involves three steps: The first involves introducing cash into the financial system by some means ("placement"); the second involves carrying out complex financial transactions to camouflage the illegal source of the cash ("layering"); and finally, acquiring wealth generated from the transactions of the illicit funds ("integration"). Some of these steps may be omitted, depending upon the circumstances . For example, non-cash proceeds that are already in the financial system would not need to be placed . </P> <P> According to the United States Treasury Department: </P>

Where does the bulk of legislation take place