Financial Crime World

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Albania Makes Progress in Financial Crime Prevention, But Still Lacks in Some Areas

A recent report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has revealed that Albania has made significant strides in implementing measures to prevent financial crime. However, the country still faces challenges in certain areas.

Key Findings

The report, which assesses a country’s progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, found that Albania has largely complied with international standards in several key areas:

  • Assessing risk and applying a risk-based approach (R.1)
  • National cooperation and coordination (R.2)
  • Customer due diligence (R.10)

Albania also received praise for its efforts to prevent the misuse of financial institutions secrecy laws (R.9) and for having a robust system in place to monitor wire transfers (R.16). The country’s financial intelligence unit was also found to be effective in gathering and analyzing data on suspicious transactions (R.29).

Areas for Improvement

However, Albania still faces challenges in several areas:

  • Asset Confiscation: Albania’s ability to confiscate assets linked to criminal activity (R.4) remains a significant issue.
  • Regulation of Non-Profit Organizations: The country needs to improve its regulation and supervision of non-profit organizations (R.8).
  • Powers of Supervisors: Albania’s powers of supervisors (R.27) also require strengthening.
  • Terrorist Financing and Proliferation: Albania’s efforts to prevent terrorist financing (R.5) and proliferation (R.7) were found to be partially compliant, with the country needing to strengthen its sanctions regime.

International Cooperation

The report also highlighted the need for Albania to improve its international cooperation, particularly in terms of:

  • Mutual Legal Assistance: Albania needs to enhance mutual legal assistance (R.37).
  • Extradition: The country’s extradition procedures (R.39) require improvement.
  • Other Forms of International Cooperation: Albania should strengthen its other forms of international cooperation (R.40).

Conclusion

While Albania has made significant progress in combating financial crime, it still faces challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the country’s financial system remains safe and secure.