Financial Crime World

Syria’s Compliance with FATF Recommendations: A Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been assessing the compliance of countries, including Syria, with its recommendations on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT). This report provides an overview of Syria’s compliance status and highlights key areas for improvement.

Deficiencies in Syria’s Laws and Regulations

The FATF report identifies three deficiencies in Syria’s laws and regulations:

Deficiency 1: Absence of Laws and Regulations Requiring Financial Institutions to Provide Customer Identification Records

  • There is no law or regulation that obligates financial institutions to provide customer identification records.
  • Although Article 5(c) of Legislative Decree No. 30 (2010) and Article 2(e) of the executive instructions of Legislative Decree No. 33 (2005) grant authorities access to customer data, this is not sufficient to address the FATF’s recommendations.
  • There are no supervisory instructions issued to insurance companies in this regard.
  • Article 2 of the executive instructions of Legislative Decree No. 33 (2014) obligates all financial and banking institutions to ensure that the person claiming to act on behalf of a customer is authorized, but this does not address the FATF’s recommendations.

Deficiency 3: Absence of Legislative Provision Obligating Insurance Companies, Exchange Institutions, and Other Financial Institutions to Verify the Identity of Beneficial Owners

  • Although Article 2 of the executive instructions of Legislative Decree No. 33 (2014) requires financial institutions to determine the owner of economic rights, there is no law or regulation that specifically obligates insurance companies, exchange institutions, and other financial institutions to verify the identity of beneficial owners.

Syria’s Response

The report highlights that Syria has addressed these deficiencies through its laws and regulations, including:

  • Article 2 of the executive instructions of Legislative Decree No. 33 (2014)
  • Decision No. 15 (2015), which requires financial institutions to perform customer due diligence measures and ongoing monitoring.

While progress has been made, Syria still needs to strengthen its AML/CFT framework to fully comply with FATF recommendations.