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Monaco Urged to Strengthen Fight Against Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

Strasbourg, January 23, 2023 - MONEYVAL’s Report Highlights Need for Improvement

The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, MONEYVAL, has called on Monaco to further strengthen its measures to combat money laundering (ML) and financing of terrorism (FT). According to a report published today, the country needs to make significant improvements in investigating and prosecuting ML cases, confiscating and recovering proceeds of crime, as well as strengthening its supervisory system.

Assessment of Compliance with FATF Recommendations

The report provides an assessment of Monaco’s level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations as at March 2022. MONEYVAL acknowledges that the country has made some progress in understanding ML/FT risks, cooperating internationally, and implementing anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures by the private sector.

Areas of Concern

However, major improvements are needed to enhance effectiveness on supervision, ML investigations and prosecutions, and confiscation of proceeds of crime. MONEYVAL notes that Monaco has a moderate level of effectiveness in relation to ML/TF risk understanding, international cooperation, and application of AML/CFT preventive measures by the private sector.

Some areas of concern include:

  • Lack of Transparency: The lack of transparency in legal persons’ beneficial ownership
  • Inadequate Investigations: Inadequate TF investigations and prosecutions
  • Limited Use of Financial Intelligence: Limited use of financial intelligence
  • Low Convictions and Confiscation Measures: Low number of convictions achieved and confiscation measures ordered, which do not cover property of equivalent value or held by third parties

Recommendations for Improvement

To address these concerns, MONEYVAL recommends that Monaco:

  • Enhance Efforts to Identify and Prioritize ML Cases: Enhance efforts to identify and prioritize ML cases
  • Seize and Confiscate Proceeds of Crime: Seize and confiscate proceeds of crime
  • Strengthen Supervisory System: Strengthen its supervisory system

The country is also urged to improve its risk understanding, particularly regarding:

  • Casinos: Casinos
  • Company Services Providers: Company services providers
  • Trusts: Trusts
  • Virtual Assets: Virtual assets

Follow-up Procedure

The report notes that MONEYVAL will apply its enhanced follow-up procedure and has invited Monaco to report back in December 2024.