Financial Crime World

Title: New Report Reveals Progress and Challenges in Mongolia’s Fight Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Subtitle: APG’s Evaluation Highlights Key Findings and Recommendations

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) has released a new report evaluating Mongolia’s progress in combating money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) activities. The report underlines the advancements in Mongolia’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, but also reveals areas for enhancement.

Background

  • The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG): An international organization founded in 1997 dedicated to implementing and enforcing anti-ML and anti-TF measures.
  • APG Membership: Consists of 41 member states and several international observers, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), IMF, World Bank, OECD, and UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Key Findings and Risks in Mongolia

  • ML and TF risks: Fraud, environmental crimes, corruption, tax evasion, and other higher-risk predicate offenses.
  • TF exposure: Limited; however, vulnerabilities exist in the legal framework, oversight of non-profit organizations, and implementation of TF prevention measures and financial sanctions in certain sectors.

Effectiveness and Technical Compliance

Progress:

  • Improvements in risk assessment processes
  • Strenghthened financial intelligence collection

Challenges:

  • Operational coordination
  • TF risk assessment
  • Supervision of financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs)

Priority Actions and Recommendations

  1. Enhance risk assessment process
  2. Strengthen legal framework
  3. Bolster inter-agency coordination
  4. Strengthen supervisory function
  5. Increase awareness and capacity building
  6. Improve financial intelligence unit’s capabilities
  7. Implement targeted financial sanctions
  8. Enhance regulatory oversight

Conclusion

  • Report highlights progress and challenges in Mongolia’s AML/CFT regime
  • Adherence to priority actions recommended in the report will help strengthen Mongolia’s AML/CFT efforts to effectively mitigate identified risks.