In 2018 Ronald Pol did a comprehensive study of the effectiveness of AML laws worldwide and came to the conclusion that less than .1% is the impact that AML laws actually have on criminal finances. Compliance costs however exceed those recovered criminal funds more than 100 times over and banks, taxpayers and ordinary citizens are penalised more than criminal enterprises.

As with all surveillance, it's surveillance for those who lack the power to circumvent this.

This is a quote from the former director of Europol Rob Wainwright, 2018 “Professional money launderers, & we have identified 400 at the top top level in Europe, are running billions of illegal drug & other criminal profits through the banking system with a 99% success rate.”

So again, we must ask:

Who are these laws for?