Croatia Strengthens Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, Improves Compliance with International Standards
In a follow-up report released today, MONEYVAL has concluded that Croatia has made significant progress in strengthening its preventive framework to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Since December 2021, the country has taken numerous steps to improve its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) systems.
Key Improvements
AML/CFT Legislation
Croatia’s AML/CFT legislation was amended to address major shortcomings, including:
- Customer due diligence measures
- Third-party reliance
- Correspondent banking
- External accountants under its scope of application
- Introduced a disclosure system for cash couriers
National Action Plan and Registration Regime
The report also noted improvements in Croatia’s national action plan, registration regime, fit-and-proper requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), beneficial ownership registers, and access to information on legal persons.
Sanctions for Non-Compliance
Sanctions for non-compliance with transparency requirements were revised.
Progress Made
Croatia has made significant progress in addressing technical compliance shortcomings identified in its 2021 Mutual Evaluation Report. The country now has:
- Five Recommendations rated Compliant
- 23 Largely Compliant
- 12 Partially Compliant out of a total of 40 Recommendations
Next Steps
Croatia remains under MONEYVAL’s enhanced follow-up procedure and is expected to report back on further progress made towards strengthening its AML/CFT system in December 2024.
About MONEYVAL
The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) is a monitoring body of the Council of Europe that assesses compliance with international standards to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The organization evaluates 33 states and territories and makes recommendations to national authorities on necessary improvements to their AML/CFT systems.
Full Report
The full report can be accessed at [link].