Financial Crime World

Bulgaria Strengthens Anti-Money Laundering Framework, Says Council of Europe Body

A recent report by MONEYVAL, a monitoring body of the Council of Europe, has concluded that Bulgaria has made significant progress in combating money laundering and financing of terrorism. The country has strengthened its preventive framework to tackle these financial crimes, according to the follow-up report released today.

Key Findings

  • Bulgaria is now compliant with ten Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, including those on national cooperation and coordination, politically exposed persons, money or value transfer services, internal controls, and foreign branches and subsidiaries.
  • The country has made progress in regulating and supervising financial institutions, as well as ensuring transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements.

Progress Made

Since the adoption of its mutual evaluation report in May 2022, Bulgaria has taken numerous steps to strengthen its anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing systems. Specifically:

  • The country is now compliant with Recommendations 14 on money or value transfer services and 32 on cash couriers.
  • Minor deficiencies remain for other recommendations, but the overall rating has been upgraded from “partially compliant” to “largely compliant”.

Challenges Remain

While Bulgaria has made significant progress, some challenges still need to be addressed, particularly in the areas of:

  • Correspondent banking
  • New technologies

Current Rating

According to MONEYVAL’s assessment, out of the 40 applicable FATF Recommendations, Bulgaria is currently rated as:

  • “Compliant or largely compliant” with 27 recommendations
  • “Partially compliant” with 13 recommendations
  • Has no outstanding non-compliance issues

Next Steps

Bulgaria is expected to report back to MONEYVAL within a year on its progress in strengthening its implementation of measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

About MONEYVAL

MONEYVAL is a monitoring body entrusted with assessing compliance with international standards to counter money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The organization evaluates 33 states and territories and makes recommendations to national authorities on necessary improvements to their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing systems.