FINANCIAL institutions are the favored avenues for shifting high-value proceeds with suspected links to tax offenses, according to a report released by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on Wednesday.

The country's financial intelligence unit, said it conducted a study on the Philippines' potential exposure to tax crimes prior to the inclusion of tax evasion as a predicate offense to money laundering by focusing on selected suspicious transaction reports (STRs) in its 'An Analysis of Suspicious Transaction Reports Links to Possible Tax Crimes.'