Financial Crime World

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Money Laundering in Moldova, Republic of: Country Makes Progress, but Remains Under Scrutiny

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The Republic of Moldova has made significant strides in combating money laundering and terrorist financing since its last evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog on financial crimes. As a result, the country’s technical compliance with FATF Recommendations has been upgraded in several key areas.

Key Areas of Improvement

Recommendation 6: Identifying and Verifying Customer Identity

  • Rated as Largely Compliant, up from Partially Compliant
  • Significant progress made in identifying and verifying the identity of customers

Recommendation 7: Record-Keeping Requirements for Financial Institutions

  • Rated as Largely Compliant
  • Improved record-keeping requirements for financial institutions to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing

Recommendation 15: Customer Due Diligence

  • Upgraded from Non Compliant to Partially Compliant
  • Country has made progress in implementing effective customer due diligence measures

Remaining Challenges

Despite the progress, the country still faces challenges in implementing anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) measures. A total of six recommendations remain rated as Partially Compliant, including those related to:

Suspicious Transaction Reporting

  • Country needs to improve its suspicious transaction reporting system to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing

Cross-Border Cooperation

  • Moldova needs to strengthen its cross-border cooperation with other countries to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

Combating Terrorist Financing

  • Country must continue to address vulnerabilities in its anti-terrorist financing regime

Next Steps

The FATF has placed the Republic of Moldova under enhanced follow-up, meaning the country will continue to report back on its progress in strengthening its AML/CFT regime. The next evaluation is expected to take place within a year’s time, at which point the country’s efforts will be re-assessed.

Conclusion

Despite the progress made, the FATF remains vigilant and expects Moldova to continue to address remaining vulnerabilities and strengthen its financial regulatory framework.