Financial Crime World

Croatia Takes Significant Steps to Combat Terrorist Financing, MONEYVAL Reports

Strengthening Framework Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Zagreb - International monitoring body MONEYVAL has released a follow-up report praising Croatia’s efforts to strengthen its framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The country has made significant progress in addressing technical compliance shortcomings identified in its 2021 evaluation.

Key Measures Taken by Croatia

Since December 2021, Croatia has taken numerous steps to improve its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT) systems. These key measures include:

  • Amendment of AML/CFT legislation to address significant shortcomings in:
    • Customer due diligence
    • Third-party reliance
    • Correspondent banking
  • Introduction of a disclosure system for cash couriers
  • Reinforcement of international cooperation powers

Improvements to National Action Plan and Registration Regime

The report highlights improvements to Croatia’s national action plan, registration regime, and fit-and-proper requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). Additionally:

  • Strengthened beneficial ownership registers
  • Streamlined access to information on legal persons
  • Updated sanctions for non-compliance with transparency requirements

Progress Made by Croatia

While recommendations 1, 2, 15, and 24 remain partially compliant, Croatia has made significant progress in addressing technical compliance shortcomings. The country has been upgraded from partly compliant to:

  • Largely compliant on recommendations 10, 17, 22, 23, 32, and 40
  • Compliant on recommendation 13

Overall Assessment of Croatia’s AML/CFT System

Croatia has improved its AML/CFT system with:

  • 5 out of 40 recommendations rated compliant
  • 23 rated largely compliant
  • 12 rated partially compliant

The country remains under MONEYVAL’s enhanced follow-up procedure and is expected to report back in December 2024.

About MONEYVAL

MONEYVAL, a monitoring body of the Council of Europe, evaluates compliance with international standards for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.