Financial Crime World

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Mongolia Makes Progress in Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has praised Mongolia for its significant progress in overcoming deficiencies in its technical compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures.

Notable Improvements

According to the latest Follow-Up Report (FUR), Mongolia has made notable improvements in implementing a risk-based approach to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including:

  • Completing national-level risk assessments and sector-specific risk assessments
  • Identifying gaps in its regulatory framework for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs)
  • Establishing controls to ensure assessment and responsiveness to risks from new products, business practices, and technologies

Challenges Remain

However, the report noted that Mongolia still faces challenges in:

  • Establishing a statutory basis for cooperation with foreign counterparts on money laundering, terrorist financing, and predicate offenses related to virtual assets
  • Lack of registration regime for VASPs, which means they are not subject to supervision or monitoring

Recommendations from FATF

The FATF has recommended that Mongolia continue to strengthen its implementation of AML/CFT measures and establish a legal framework for cooperation with foreign counterparts on money laundering and terrorist financing. The country’s next progress report is due in February 2022.

Commendation from FATF Chair

“Mongolia’s efforts to address the deficiencies identified in its previous report are commendable,” said [Name], Chair of the FATF. “However, there is still more work to be done to ensure that Mongolia’s AML/CFT regime is robust and effective.”

Highlights of the Follow-Up Report

The report highlights Mongolia’s progress on several key areas, including:

  • Implementing a risk-based approach to combating money laundering and terrorist financing
  • Completing national-level risk assessments and sector-specific risk assessments
  • Identifying gaps in its regulatory framework for virtual assets and VASPs
  • Establishing controls to ensure assessment and responsiveness to risks from new products, business practices, and technologies

Conclusion

Overall, the FATF’s Follow-Up Report acknowledges Mongolia’s progress in strengthening its AML/CFT regime, but emphasizes that there is still more work to be done to ensure that the country’s regime is robust and effective.