The Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe organised, on 12 December 2022 a Roundtable on “Emerging money laundering and terrorist financing trends and challenges” involving practitioners and representatives of beneficiary institutions from 12 jurisdictions (including Financial Intelligence Units, supervisors and law enforcement). 
 
The Roundtable was convened taking into account that criminal economic activities have mutated into new forms. The development and expansion of new technologies are bringing new risks and challenges alongside with the opportunities. 

The event aimed to discuss and exchange on the evolving trends and challenges in the Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) area and identify important areas which could be addressed through the technical cooperation activities of the Council of Europe in the future. 

The Roundtable contributed to sharing of experiences and discussing different approaches and practices towards the automatisation of the flow of information, manage risks and ensure better effectiveness by also introducing and/or establishing technology-based processes to comply with respective standards and regulatory obligations. Participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with trends, practice and challenges in the economic crime area also from the perspective of monitoring mechanisms such as MONEYVAL.

They highlighted the importance of finding a balance in relation to financial innovation, the development of digital solutions to fight AML/CFT and protection of human rights.
The Roundtable participants included thirty-three practitioner experts and representatives of beneficiary institutions from Financial Intelligence Units, Supervisory Institutions and Law Enforcement Authorities who are involved in technical cooperation activities of the Council of Europe in the AML/CFT area from EU member States; Eastern Partnership and South East Europe.
  
The Roundtable was organised by the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe as part of its technical cooperation activities implemented in the framework of Council of Europe/EU DGREFORM joint initiatives, namely: 2020 Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) envelope “Support to Member States in the Implementation of Structural Reforms II” - projects for Czech Republic and Romania; and “Support to EU Member States in the implementation of reforms under the Technical Support Instrument (2021 and 2022) – projects implemented in Croatia, Estonia, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Poland and Lithuania.