Financial Crime World

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Slovenia Lags Behind in Risk Assessment for Financial Crimes, Report Says

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Progress Made, but Deficiencies Remain

Ljubljana - Despite significant progress made in tackling money laundering and terrorist financing since 2017, Slovenia still faces several deficiencies, particularly when it comes to mitigating risks related to virtual currencies.

MONEYVAL Report Highlights Strengths and Weaknesses

According to a report published by the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL, Slovenia has upgraded its international compliance rating in several areas, including:

  • Regulation of non-profit organisations
  • Correspondent banking relationships
  • Supervision
  • Preventing money laundering risks associated with politically exposed persons

However, the report also highlights several deficiencies, particularly regarding the implementation of new international requirements for virtual assets. MONEYVAL notes that while Slovenia has made progress in this area, it still falls short, leading to a downgrade in the country’s rating on Recommendation 15 from “compliant” to “partially compliant”.

Key Findings and Recommendations

Current Compliance Status

Slovenia currently has full compliance with only eleven out of forty FATF Recommendations, which constitute the international anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) standard.

Deficiencies in Implementation

The country retains minor deficiencies in the implementation of another twenty-five Recommendations, and larger-scale deficiencies for four areas:

  • National risk assessment
  • Terrorism financing offence
  • Virtual assets
  • Cash couriers

MONEYVAL’s Decision to Keep Slovenia in Enhanced Follow-up Process

As a result, MONEYVAL has decided to keep Slovenia in the enhanced follow-up process and will require further progress to be reported back within one year. The report was adopted by the 61st MONEYVAL Plenary meeting held in Strasbourg at the end of April.

Accessing the Full Report

The full report is available online [insert link].