Use of the financial sector for money laundering: a perspective from the Ecuadorian legislation

The crime of money laundering is a social problem worldwide that is present in all economic sectors where financial activities take place. To determine which financial sectors are used to carry out this crime, several bibliographical sources were used, basically studies carried out by international organizations specialized on this subject. Mainly, the permanent need for regulatory delimitation was considered. The objective of this research was to determine if there is adequate regulation and systematization in the respective financial sectors where the financial activities are performed. In addition, the analysis of the recent regulations issued in Ecuador was conducted, obtaining as a result the criminal liability of the officials from the obligated parties to report when the fulfillment of their control obligations provided by law is omitted. However, the different national regulatory bodies have issued broad and even excessive regulation for each of the economic sectors.