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Sweden’s Efforts in International Cooperation Praised

Stockholm, Sweden - Sweden’s commitment to international cooperation has been hailed as a major strength in the country’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Strengths of Swedish Cooperation

According to a recent report, Sweden exchanges and seeks appropriate information, financial intelligence, and evidence with its international partners, and facilitates action against criminals and their assets. The country’s close cooperation with the Nordic and Baltic regions, as well as its extensive partnerships with EU members and other countries worldwide, has been particularly noteworthy.

Law Enforcement Cooperation

Sweden’s law enforcement agencies have also made significant strides in cooperating with foreign counterparts, thanks to a well-resourced Single Point of Operative Contact (SPOC) and a network of liaison officers. Investigators and prosecutors have effectively used joint investigative teams to investigate money laundering and recover the proceeds of crime.

Transparency and Beneficial Ownership

The report highlights Sweden’s commitment to transparency, noting that the country actively seeks international cooperation when intelligence or evidence is needed from foreign partners. Sweden has also been able to provide available beneficial ownership information on legal persons to requesting states, although there are certain limitations concerning the identification of beneficial owners.

Recommendations for Improvement

Despite these strengths, the report identifies several areas where Sweden can improve its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing:

• Urgently introducing legal powers to enable authorities to apply targeted financial sanctions relating to terrorism or proliferation.
• Establishing a national mechanism to ensure adequate cooperation and coordination between ministries and operational agencies.
• Increasing access to and use of financial intelligence to identify complex cases of money laundering and professional money laundering.
• Improving supervisors’ understanding of risks in their specific sector(s) and implementing a risk-based approach towards supervising reporting entities.
• Increasing the capacity of the Financial Supervisory Authority’s (FSA) anti-money laundering unit.

Efforts Underway

Sweden is already taking steps to address these recommendations. The country has plans to establish a central register of beneficial ownership, as required by the EU Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. Sweden also intends to conduct a full risk assessment of the misuse of all legal persons for money laundering and terrorist financing, and develop measures to mitigate the use of straw-men and corporate structures.

Conclusion

The report concludes that while there is still work to be done, Sweden’s efforts in international cooperation are a major strength and an important step towards combating money laundering and terrorist financing.