Norway’s Anti-Money Laundering Laws Show Mixed Results in Global Assessment

A recent assessment of Norway’s anti-money laundering laws has yielded a mixed bag, with the country showing varying levels of compliance with global standards. The report, published by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), evaluated Norway’s implementation of technical requirements for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

Progress in Certain Areas

According to the report, Norway demonstrated significant progress in areas such as:

• Assessing Risk: Norway has made notable improvements in assessing risk and applying a risk-based approach.
• National Cooperation and Coordination: The country has strengthened its national cooperation and coordination efforts.
• Confiscation and Provisional Measures: Norway has improved its confiscation and provisional measures to combat money laundering.

Shortfalls in Other Areas

However, the report highlighted several areas where Norway fell short of international standards, including:

• Financial Institution Secrecy Laws: Norway’s financial institution secrecy laws need improvement.
• Customer Due Diligence: The country’s customer due diligence processes require strengthening.
• Internal Controls and Foreign Branches and Subsidiaries: Internal controls and supervision of foreign branches and subsidiaries need to be improved.

Improvement Areas Identified

The FATF report identified several areas where Norway needs to improve its compliance with international standards, including:

• Strengthening Regulations and Supervision: Norway should strengthen its regulations and supervision of financial institutions.
• Enhancing Supervisor Powers: The country’s supervisors need more powers to effectively combat money laundering.
• Improving Regulation and Supervision of DNFBPs: Designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) require improved regulation and supervision.

Ratings and Assessment

The report’s ratings range from “compliant” to “non-compliant”. Norway received a “compliant” rating for areas such as:

• Money Laundering Offence: The country has implemented effective money laundering offence legislation.
• Terrorist Financing Offence: Norway has enacted robust terrorist financing offence laws.

However, the country was deemed “largely compliant” in several other areas, including:

• National Cooperation and Coordination: Norway’s national cooperation and coordination efforts are largely effective.
• Non-Profit Organisations: The country’s regulations on non-profit organisations need some improvement.
• Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons: Norway requires further work to improve transparency and beneficial ownership disclosure.

Conclusion

While Norway has made significant progress in implementing anti-money laundering measures, there is still much work to be done to bring the country fully into compliance with international standards. The FATF report serves as a valuable tool for Norwegian authorities to identify areas of improvement and strengthen their efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.