Czech Republic Making Strides in Financial Crime Compliance: Moneyval Report

The Czech Republic is making notable progress in its efforts to combat financial crimes, according to the latest report from the Council of Europe’s Moneyval committee. Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from the report:

Challenges Identified in 2018 Evaluation

Moneyval’s previous report (2018) identified several areas where the Czech Republic’s financial crime measures fell short. These areas included:

• Sanctioning regime for breaching preventative measures
• Reporting obligations
• Non-profit organizations
• Tipping-off
• Compliance of designated non-financial businesses and professions with AML/CFT obligations

Swift Action Taken to Improve

In response to the 2018 report, the Czech authorities took immediate steps to improve their stance on these issues. This included implementing various legislative, regulatory, and institutional measures to address the shortcomings and strengthen the country’s compliance regime.

Significant Progress Achieved

Moneyval’s recent re-evaluation confirmed these improvements. The ratings for five FATF recommendations were upgraded from “partially compliant” to “largely compliant.” Moreover, the rating for one other FATF recommendation was changed from “partially compliant” to “compliant.”

More Work is Needed

Although significant progress has been made, the report reiterated that there’s still work to be done to fully comply with international financial crime standards. Currently, the Czech Republic is fully compliant with six of the forty FATF recommendations that constitute the international AML/CFT standard. However, there are minor loopholes in their compliance measures for the implementation of 29 recommendations where they are rated “largely compliant.”

Expectations for Future Progress

The Czech Republic is expected to submit a follow-up report next year to demonstrate further progress in these areas. With a continued dedication to addressing financial crime, the country is poised to make further strides toward full compliance with international standards.

FATF’s New Guidance on Digital FIUs

Meanwhile, FATF has issued new guidance on the digitization of financial intelligence units (FIUs) to help countries, like the Czech Republic, strengthen their financial crime defenses in the modern age. Stay tuned for more updates on the global fight against financial crime.