The project brings together the Institute’s Proliferation and Nuclear Policy team and Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies in order to identify challenges to national and international obligations to counter proliferation finance and propose practical solutions to effectively implement sanctions.  

Proliferation financing has emerged as a matter of growing concern over the past decade. As a result, a number of tools have been designed to disrupt the underlying financial services that enable proliferators and their facilitators to procure, ship, and receive illicit goods. Their effectiveness, however, hinges on close cooperation between government stakeholders and the private sector.

Through its activities, the Countering Proliferation Finance project at RUSI seeks to both facilitate such cooperation and advance collective thinking in this area. 

RUSI has produced a number of landmark publications on proliferation finance with relevance for both financial institutions and government stakeholders. 

Recent work

• The RUSI Implementation Guide and Model Law was supported by the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering, a regional body of 41 Member States in the Asia-Pacific region, and our collaboration with the APG is ongoing.

• Conducted workshops and works closely with governments, industry associations and the private sector in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia to strengthen efforts to counter proliferation finance.

• Frequently presents our research at international conferences and summits around the world, including the 2017 FATF-TREIN/APG Joint Typologies Workshop and the WorldECR Export Controls and Sanctions Forum.