Monaco Urged to Intensify Fight against Money Laundering and Terror Financing by Moneyval

Monaco’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) efforts have received criticism from Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money-laundering body. In a newly-released report, Moneyval urged Monaco to take further steps to strengthen its investigative and prosecutorial capacities, enhance confiscation measures, and improve its supervisory system.

Key Findings from Moneyval Report

Moneyval’s assessment evaluated Monaco’s adherence to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations during its last visit in March 2022. Some notable findings include:

Identifying Money Laundering (ML) Risks: Monaco was commended for its progress in identifying ML risks, but there’s room for improvement when it comes to investigation and prosecution of cases, recovery of proceeds of crime, and strengthening the supervisory framework, particularly in sectors like casinos, company services providers, trusts, and virtual assets.
Insufficient Convictions and Confiscation Measures: Moneyval voiced concerns over Monaco’s low number of convictions and confiscation measures, which it considered insufficient in both value and impact. The committee urged Monaco to prioritize and enhance investigations, seize and recover proceeds of ML and predicate offenses, and impose stricter penalties for nonprofit entities.
Effective Utilization of Monaco Financial Intelligence Unit (SICCFIN): Although Moneyval recognized SICCFIN’s high-quality analysis, it believed the potential of the unit wasn’t being fully utilized by investigative authorities.

Recommendations from Moneyval

Moneyval suggested various recommendations to Monaco to improve its AML and CTF efforts:

Strengthening investigative and prosecutorial capacities
Enhancing confiscation measures
Fortifying supervisory systems
Implementing legislation addressing international mutual legal assistance, seizure and confiscation, and proceeds of crime

Monaco’s Response to Moneyval’s Report

Monaco’s Finance and Economy Minister, Jean Castellini, acknowledged the progress made but emphasized the need to continue working on the identified areas for improvement. In recent months, Monaco has:

Adopted key legislations, such as those related to international mutual legal assistance and proceeds of crime

Moneyval also appreciated the efforts made by Monaco’s Financial Intelligence Unit (SICCFIN), but encouraged its fuller utilization by investigative authorities.

Consequences of Moneyval’s Report

In response to the report, Moneyval imposed a 12-month monitoring period on Monaco, known as the enhanced follow-up procedure. The Principality will provide a progress report by December 2024.

Monaco’s Continued Commitment to AML and CTF

Minister of State Pierre Dartout reaffirmed Monaco’s dedication to meeting international standards in ethics, transparency, and the fight against ML and FT, as envisioned by Prince Albert II. Monaco remains committed to working with industry experts to effectively implement Moneyval’s recommendations.

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