Money laundering, corruption and organised crime continue to be areas of global concern, and Serbia is no exception. The emerging challenges in prevention and fight against money laundering and terrorist financing requiring constant prudence, adjustment and update of the existing international anti-money laundering (AML) standards and procedures as well as development of new, more efficient preventive mechanisms. The Council of Europe remains dedicated to supporting the authorities of Serbia in building a robust anti-money laundering system in line with international standards, latest developments in AML standardisation and upcoming EU legislation. This was one of the key messages at the conference “Evolution of anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism standards and latest developments: beneficial ownership transparency and new technologies” held in Belgrade on 15 December 2022 organised under the project “Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Serbia”.
The conference was opened by the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, Swedish ambassador in Belgrade, Head of the ECCD and Director of Serbian FIU. The conference gathered main stakeholders in the area of combating money laundering and terrorist financing in Serbia (Administration for Prevention of Money Laundering, Gaming Authority, National Bank of Serbia, Business Registry, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Interior, Tax Administration and many others). Representatives of the European Commission updated the audience on the latest developments in AML standardisation and upcoming legislation at the EU level. The conference participants discussed with representatives of institutions of the EU member states their experiences in implementation of the directives and updated FATF recommendations, as well and practical challenges that arise in the enforcement of the new rules.
In addition, representatives of the FIU from Estonia presented their strategic analysis in the field of virtual assets, while international experts discussed new standards on beneficial ownership and challenges related to registration of different forms of legal arrangements, as well as challenges in electronic identification of clients. The conference provided opportunity to Serbian officials to learn more about those latest trends and discuss with the relevant experts how that will impact Serbian overall AML/TF reform process.
During the conference it was emphasised that the project “Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Serbia” extension into 2024, comes in ideal time for Serbian authorities, as it overlaps with the time for implementation of the existing Strategy for prevention of ML/TF and beginning of the sixth round of MONEYVAL evaluation, and its support would be beneficial.
The Project “Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Serbia” is funded by Sweden, represented by the Swedish International Development Agency and implemented by the Council of Europe.