Financial Crime World

Belarus’ Efforts to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

MINSK, BELARUS - The Republic of Belarus has made significant progress in combating money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF), according to a new report.

The report highlights the country’s robust legal framework, which allows for effective cooperation between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. The Directorate for Financial Monitoring (DFM) plays a crucial role in providing financial intelligence to law enforcement agencies, enabling them to investigate criminal cases and identify perpetrators of predicate offenses.

International Information Exchange and Enhanced Cooperation

Law enforcement agencies in Belarus are actively using the powers of the DFM in international information exchange, which has resulted in more rapid cooperation and better outcomes. The report also notes that all financial institutions (FIs) and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) have demonstrated an understanding of their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations.

Prevention Measures and Risk Assessment

The report praises Belarus’ efforts to prevent ML/TF, noting that FIs and DNFBPs take measures to mitigate risks through enhanced customer due diligence (CDD) measures and transaction monitoring. The country’s supervisory authorities have also demonstrated a good understanding of ML/TF risks in the supervised sectors, conducting risk assessments at both sectoral and entity levels.

Areas for Improvement

However, the report identifies some areas for improvement, including:

  • DNFBPs need to better identify politically exposed persons (PEPs) and beneficial owners due to limited resources.
  • There may be some “false positives” associated with the partial matching of customer data with that included in the lists used for financial sanctions.

Conclusion

Overall, the report concludes that Belarus has made significant progress in combating ML/TF and is committed to continuing its efforts to strengthen its AML/CFT regime.