Financial Crime World

Norway’s Anti-Money Laundering Laws: A Key Component of its Financial Stability

Norway, a highly developed Scandinavian country with an economy fueled by abundant natural resources, has become a magnet for financial criminals seeking to exploit its financial system. The country’s recent financial scandals have brought attention to Norway’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) regulations, highlighting the need for businesses operating in the country to be familiar with its AML/CFT landscape.

Finanstilsynet: Norway’s Primary AML Regulator

At the forefront of combating financial crime is Finanstilsynet, Norway’s primary AML regulator. Established in 1986, Finanstilsynet ensures that supervised institutions comply with anti-money laundering legislation by developing and implementing financial legislation, conducting on-site compliance inspections, and working with other national supervisory authorities across the European Economic Area (EEA).

The Act Relating to Measures to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Norway’s main AML/CFT law is the Act Relating to Measures to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, passed in 2018. The act imposes risk-based record-keeping and reporting regulations on financial institutions, including:

  • Customer due diligence
  • Ultimate beneficial ownership checks
  • Ongoing monitoring of customer financial activity

International Cooperation and Compliance

As a signatory to the EU’s Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation, Finanstilsynet collaborates with other national supervisory authorities across the EEA and regulatory bodies worldwide in the global fight against money laundering. Norway is also set to implement the EU’s landmark Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation and Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR), which will extend AML/CFT regulations to virtual asset service providers.

Compliance Requirements for Financial Institutions

To comply with AML regulations in Norway, financial institutions must:

  • Conduct risk assessments
  • Establish customer risk profiles
  • Deploy a proportionate compliance response, including:
    • Customer due diligence
    • Transaction screening
    • Sanctions and watchlists
    • Adverse media screening

Adverse Media Screening: A Critical Component of Compliance

In practice, firms should screen customers against adverse media sources on an ongoing basis using software with multi-language search capabilities that can search in real-time to deliver the most recent risk data. Effective adverse media screening requires integration with next-generation machine learning technology, such as Ripjar’s Labyrinth Screening platform, which enables:

  • Real-time searches of thousands of global media sources
  • Sanctions and watchlists in over 20 languages

Staying Ahead of Regulatory Changes and Criminal Threats

As Norway’s AML regulations evolve to match the demands of the global risk landscape, it is critical for firms to implement screening solutions that can capture a vast amount of risk data while minimizing false positive alerts. By partnering with Ripjar, businesses operating in Norway can ensure they stay ahead of both regulatory changes and criminal threats.