Financial Crime World

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Norway’s Crackdown on Money Laundering: Understanding the Anti-Money Laundering Landscape

Norway, one of the world’s wealthiest economies, has become a target for financial criminals seeking to exploit its financial system. In response, Norway has ramped up its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) regulations, imposing strict requirements on businesses operating in the country.

The AML Regulator: Finanstilsynet

Norway’s primary AML regulator is the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (FSA), also known as Finanstilsynet. Established in 1986, Finanstilsynet ensures that supervised institutions comply with AML legislation by developing and implementing financial laws, conducting risk-based AML/ CFT inspections, and issuing licenses to financial institutions.

Norway’s AML Regulations

The Act Relating to Measures to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, passed in 2018, imposes risk-based record-keeping and reporting regulations on financial institutions. The law requires firms to apply customer due diligence (CDD) and ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) checks, as well as ongoing monitoring of customer activity.

Recent AML Initiatives

Norway is set to implement the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation and Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR), extending AML/ CFT regulations to virtual asset service providers. Both regulations are expected to come into effect in 2024.

Complying with AML Regulations in Norway

To comply with Norway’s AML regulations, firms must conduct risk assessments and deploy a proportionate compliance response. This includes:

  • Customer due diligence
  • Transaction screening
  • Sanctions and watchlists
  • Adverse media screening

Firms should also integrate software with multi-language search capabilities to capture a vast amount of risk data in real-time.

Next Generation Screening Technology

To stay ahead of regulatory changes and criminal threats, firms should implement a screening solution capable of capturing vast amounts of risk data while minimizing false positive alerts. Ripjar’s Labyrinth Screening platform uses next-generation machine learning technology to extract relevant risk data from thousands of global media sources, including news articles, sanctions and watchlists, in over 20 languages.

Contact Us

To learn more about how Ripjar can support your AML compliance in Norway, please contact us.