Albania Makes Strides Forward in Money Laundering Fight: MONEYVAL Report Confirms
In a significant development, Albanian authorities have made substantial progress in strengthening the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) measures, as highlighted in a follow-up report by the Council of Europe’s MONEYVAL committee.
MONEYVAL Report: Albania’s Progress
The report, which evaluates countries’ compliance with international AML/CFT standards, noted Albania’s improvements in implementing transparency rules and improving regulation and supervision of non-financial institutions.
Addressing Trustees’ Shortcomings
Since the publication of Albania’s 2018 Mutual Evaluation Report, the country has taken considerable strides in addressing shortcomings, notably in addressing gaps related to trustees and access to beneficial ownership information. The following advancements have been made:
- trustees have been made subject to AML/CFT regulations
- the process for competent authorities to access beneficial ownership information has been streamlined
Regulatory Oversight and Supervision
Further improvements have been achieved in the regulatory oversight of notaries and real estate agents:
- the licensing authority for notaries was granted the power to revoke licenses for non-compliance with AML/CFT legislation
- a risk-based supervisory framework was introduced for real estate agents
MONEYVAL Recommendations: Albania’s Compliance
Due to these advancements, Albania was re-rated from Partially to Largely Compliant for Recommendations 25 (transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements) and 28 (regulation and supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions). In total, Albania currently complies with 6 recommendations, is Largely Compliant with 31, Partially Compliant with 2, and not Applicable for 1.
The Road Ahead: Continuous Advancements
The country is scheduled to provide another progress report to MONEYVAL in two years regarding further advancements in its AML/CFT system.
MONEYVAL: Monitoring Body for AML/CFT Systems
MONEYVAL functions as a monitoring body of the Council of Europe, focusing on assessing member states’ AML/CFT and counter-proliferation financing systems, providing relevant recommendations to improve their effectiveness.