Financial Crime World

Title: “Moldova’s Battle Against Financial Crime: A Look at the Country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Measures”

Key Findings from the FATF On-site visit (October 1-12, 2018)

This report provides insights into Moldova’s ongoing efforts in fighting money laundering (ML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF). Some of the major findings from this assessment are:

National Risk Assessment (NRA)

  • Moldova conducted an NRA in 2017.
  • The Action Plan from the NRA led to significant progress, including the adoption of strategies to address major risks.
  • There’s a need for improvement in disseminating NRA results to reporting entities and the consideration of financing of terrorism (FT) related risks in the assessment.

Financial Intelligence Unit and Investigations

  • Moldova’s Service for Prevention and Fight of Money Laundering (SPCML) uses financial intelligence for ML and proceeds-generating offenses investigations.
  • The effectiveness of these efforts could be heightened by addressing the high volume of suspicious transactions and improving cooperation between domestic authorities.
  • Limited progress has been made in FT-related investigations, with no prosecutions or convictions.
  • Moldova has implemented targeted financial sanctions (TFS) and improved the licensing framework for financial institutions.
  • There are challenges with the practical implementation of sanctions and supervision of Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs).

Risk Assessment and Policy Setting

  • Progress has been made in risk assessments.
  • Coordination and policy setting, particularly in relation to PF and international cooperation, require improvement.

Recommendations

  • Prioritize the assessment of business-specific ML/FT threats
  • Implement a new suspicion-based transaction reporting system
  • Allocate adequate resources to law enforcement agencies
  • Consistently use the legislative framework

Conclusion

This report underlines the importance of addressing financial crimes in Moldova through a robust and effective AML/CFT system. Although progress has been made, challenges remain in mitigating risks and better protecting against ML and CTF.