Title: Albania Making Strides in Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regulations, MONEYVAL Report Reveals

MONEYVAL Releases Follow-up Report on Albania’s AML/CFT Progress

The European monitoring body, MONEYVAL, has published an updated report on Albania’s progress in implementing anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regulations. The report highlights several key improvements made by the country since its last evaluation in 2018.

• Significant steps towards transparency and improved regulation
  • Trustees now subject to AML/CFT requirements
  • Access to beneficial ownership information is easier for authorities
  • Tighter regulations for notaries, allowing for license revocation
  • Risk-based supervision introduced for real estate agents

Albania’s Substantial Progress in Addressing Previous Shortcomings

Since June 2022, Albania has made considerable progress in addressing technical compliance shortcomings identified in the 2018 Mutual Evaluation Report:

• Currently complies with 6 out of 40 recommendations
• 31 recommendations are considered largely compliant
• 2 recommendations are rated partially compliant
• 1 recommendation is not applicable

Future Progress Reports Expected in Two Years

As a monitoring body of the Council of Europe, MONEYVAL evaluates countries’ adherence to international AML/CFT and counter proliferation financing standards. Albania is expected to submit progress reports to MONEYVAL every two years.