Financial Crime World

Moldova Struggles to Combat Terrorist Financing Methods

Overview

The Republic of Moldova has made significant progress in improving its compliance with international standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, but still faces several shortcomings. A recent report by the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) highlights these challenges.

Technical Compliance Deficiencies

The Moldovan authorities have addressed most technical compliance deficiencies impacting targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and its financing, but limited progress has been made in remedying shortcomings affecting virtual assets and service providers. As a result, MONEYVAL downgraded the country’s ratings for Recommendations 6 and 7 on terrorist financing.

The Moldovan authorities have made efforts to strengthen their legal and institutional framework to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. However, these efforts have not achieved expectations within three years of the adoption of the mutual evaluation report. MONEYVAL urges the country to address these shortcomings by June 2025.

Current Ratings

Out of the 40 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, Moldova is currently rated as:

  • Compliant on nine recommendations
  • Largely Compliant on 25 recommendations
  • Partially Compliant on six recommendations
  • None of the recommendations are assessed as non-compliant.

Enhanced Follow-up and Future Reporting

The country remains in enhanced follow-up and is expected to report back to MONEYVAL within one year. The committee’s evaluation is critical to ensuring that Moldova meets international standards to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

About MONEYVAL

MONEYVAL is a monitoring body of the Council of Europe entrusted with assessing compliance with international standards on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and countering the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The committee evaluates 33 states and territories and provides recommendations to national authorities for necessary improvements to their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing systems.