The formal financial sector refers to using regulated financial institutions and systems, such as banks, investment firms and financial markets, by violent extremist groups or individuals to transfer money for their activities.
In the post-conflict period after 2018, most religiously motivated groups in the Western Balkans have remained non-violent.26 However, a small number have been linked to individuals who joined armed conflicts in Syria and Iraq between 2011 and 2018. As a result, violent religious extremism in the region is largely viewed through the lens of foreign terrorist fighters and their limited connections to global terrorist networks. These developments have also had an impact on how violent religious extremism is financed in the region. A shift toward self-financing and crowdfunding has emerged, thus using formal financial sector as bank accounts to move funds, which enables radicalized individuals to operate independently of traditional external support and patronage, reducing their risk of detection by law enforcement and national security. Two local experts, one a former security sector professional, in Bosnia and Herzegovina explained that most followers use profits from personal ventures to fund their activities.27
26Ljudmila Cvetković and Amela Bajrović, Šta se zna o vehabijskom pokretu u Srbiji, Radio Slobodna Evropa, 21 August 2024,
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/
srbije-vehabijski-pokret/33087537.html; Government of Montenegro, Procjena opasnosti od teškog i organizovanog kriminala u Crnoj
Gori: SOCTA 2024, 20 November 2024, https://www.gov.me/dokumenta/d56f67a7-5d3d-4812-8687-aff237ba5c52.
27Interview with Safet Musić, an expert in religious extremism, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 2024; Interview with a retired
member of the security intelligence agency, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 2024.