On 7 November 2022, the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division organised the “Awareness-raising workshop on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations for the Money Value and Transfer Services (MVTS) in Bulgaria: red flag indicators and submission of suspicious transaction reports”, in Sofia, Bulgaria. The event was organised in cooperation with the Financial Intelligence Directorate under the State Agency for National Security (FID-SANS) of Bulgaria, as well as the Bulgarian National Bank.
The Workshop was attended by 27 representatives of the MVTS sector and was conveyed with the purpose of implementing mitigations measures included in the Action plan for mitigating risks of money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) of Bulgaria.
The event was kicked-off by a presentation of the Bulgarian AML/CFT legislative and regulatory Framework by FID-SANS representatives. As a follow-up, participants could learn more about the ML/TF risks associated with the MVTS sector illustrated by a set of case-examples, as well as to get acquainted with useful red flag indicators that could facilitate the identification of potential ML/TF risks.
In addition, the workshop provided an opportunity to present the Guidelines for the MVTS sector on submitting suspicious transaction reports (STRs) to the FID-SANS (Bulgarian Financial Intelligence Unit), developed by the Council of Europe. The document aims to explain the concept of the STRs and the levels of suspicion to be taken into consideration by the obliged entities from the MVTS sector, when filing STRs to the FID-SANS. It also provides step-by-step guidance on how to file an STR and which information and supporting documents to include in the report. Finally, in order to make the Guidelines as practical as possible, it also includes examples of suspicious activities and techniques to which the obliged entities should pay attention to, as well as a list of indicators for detecting suspicious transactions or risks related to the specific operations and clients of the MVTS sector.
The event was organised within the framework of the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) project for Bulgaria “Enhancing capabilities of Bulgarian authorities to effectively mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risks”, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.