COOPERATING WITH THE UNITED STATES

Saudi Arabia has accepted to cooperate closely with U.S. authorities on tracing money laundering as a source of support for bin Laden's Islamic terror network. This should offer the United States a deeper inside look into the extensive Saudi and Arab informal money movement and laundering. Time will tell how effective the new knowledge will be. For now, we can rest assured that the informal system will find ways of dodging the new monitoring, shifting perhaps to other countries and banks outside of the Gulf region.