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ALBANIA STEPS UP FIGHT AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORIST FINANCING

Albania has made significant improvements in its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, a new report by the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL has found.

Key Areas of Progress

According to the report, Albania has made positive strides in three key areas:

• Transparency and Beneficial Ownership: The country has introduced measures such as a beneficial ownership register, enhanced market entry requirements for financial institutions, and improved legislation to ensure the accuracy of basic information submitted to the Commercial register.
• Regulation and Supervision of Financial Institutions: Albania has taken steps to prevent criminals from holding significant or controlling interests in non-banking financial institutions.
• Mutual Legal Assistance: The country has established mechanisms to execute foreign confiscation orders, share confiscated assets with foreign countries, and provide assistance for non-conviction-based confiscation.

Minor Deficiencies Identified

Despite these positive developments, MONEYVAL has identified some minor deficiencies in Albania’s implementation of FATF Recommendations. The country remains “partially compliant” with four recommendations relating to:

• Targeted Financial Sanctions on Proliferation Financing: Albania needs to improve its supervision and enforcement of targeted financial sanctions.
• New Technologies: The country should enhance its risk management and reporting requirements for new technologies, such as virtual currencies.
• Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Arrangements: Albania should clarify the scope and application of beneficial ownership rules for legal arrangements.
• Supervision of Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions: The country needs to improve its supervision and enforcement of anti-money laundering measures for non-financial businesses and professions.

Commitment to Strengthening AML/CFT Measures

Albania’s overall performance has been praised by MONEYVAL, which notes that the country has addressed most technical compliance deficiencies within three years after the adoption of the mutual evaluation report. The jurisdiction has achieved full compliance with seven out of 40 FATF Recommendations constituting the international anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) standard.

Albania will continue to be under MONEYVAL’s enhanced follow-up and is expected to report back on progress in two years’ time, demonstrating its commitment to strengthening its implementation of AML/CFT measures.