Financial Crime World

Sweden’s Financial Crime Prevention Efforts Under Scrutiny: A Closer Look at its FATF Recommendations Compliance

Introduction

In its latest follow-up report, Sweden has been assessed on its implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations. The report provides a comprehensive overview of Sweden’s efforts to prevent financial crimes and assesses its compliance with international standards.

Areas of Strength

  • Risk Assessment: Sweden is largely compliant in assessing risk and applying a risk-based approach (R.1).
  • National Cooperation and Coordination: Sweden has made significant progress in implementing measures for national cooperation and coordination (R.2).
  • Regulation and Supervision of Financial Institutions: The country’s regulation and supervision of financial institutions are also largely compliant with international standards (R.26).

Areas of Improvement

  • Targeted Financial Sanctions: Sweden is only partially compliant with regards to targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing (R.6), targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation (R.7), and statistics (R.33).
  • Confiscation and Provisional Measures: The country has been found non-compliant with respect to confiscation and provisional measures (R.4).
  • Transparency and Beneficial Ownership: Sweden’s transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and arrangements require improvement (R.24).

Additional Areas for Improvement

  • Financial Institution Secrecy Laws: The country’s financial institution secrecy laws need strengthening (R.9).
  • Customer Due Diligence Requirements: Customer due diligence requirements also need to be improved (R.10).
  • Reliance on Third Parties: Sweden’s reliance on third parties requires greater attention (R.17).
  • Internal Controls: Internal controls also require improvement (R.18).

Conclusion

While Sweden has made significant progress in implementing measures to prevent financial crimes, there are areas where it needs to improve its compliance with FATF Recommendations. The country must continue to work towards strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime to meet international standards.

Availability of the Report

The full report is available on the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s website.