Monaco has improved measures to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, demonstrating significant progress in the level of compliance with the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standards, concludes MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism, in a follow-up report released today.
Since the adoption of its mutual evaluation report (2022), Monaco has taken numerous steps to strengthen its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing systems.
The positive actions taken by the authorities have improved Monaco’s compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s Recommendations 4 (Confiscation and provisional measures), 6 (Targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing), 7 (Targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation), 8 (Non-profit organisations), 12 (Politically exposed persons), 23 (Measures related to designated non-financial businesses and professions), 24 (Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons), 25 (Transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements), 26 (Regulation and supervision of financial institutions), 27 (Powers of supervisors), 28 (Regulation and supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions), 31 (Powers of law enforcement and investigative authorities), 34 (Guidance and feedback), 35 (Sanctions), 37 (Mutual legal assistance).
The progress achieved by the Monegasque authorities since 2022 have prompted MONEYVAL to re-rate Monaco as compliant with Recommendations 6, 7 and 12 and as largely compliant with Recommendations 4, 8, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 34, 35 and 37 (all previously rated as partially compliant).
For the Recommendation 15 (New technologies), which is the remaining recommendation rated as partially compliant, the authorities did not request a re-rating thus being outside the scope of this follow-up.
All in all, Monaco has succeeded in meeting the general expectation of MONEYVAL for countries to have addressed most - if not all - of the technical compliance deficiencies within two years after the adoption of the mutual evaluation report. Monaco has achieved large compliance with 32 of the 40 FATF Recommendations and full compliance with 7 of the 40 FATF Recommendations constituting the international AML/CFT standard. The jurisdiction retains only minor deficiencies in the implementation of 32 Recommendations, where it has been found “largely compliant”, and one further Recommendation (New technologies) remains “partially compliant”. Monaco has no “non-compliant” ratings.
MONEYVAL’s follow-up report only studies formal changes in the legislative, regulatory and institutional framework. It does not assess the degree to which these reforms have been effectively implemented in practice.
Monaco is expected to report back to MONEYVAL in three years’ time on progress to strengthen its implementation of AML/CFT measures.
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The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) is a monitoring body of the Council of Europe entrusted with the task of assessing compliance with the principal international standards to counter money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the effectiveness of their implementation. MONEYVAL evaluates 33 states and territories and makes recommendations to national authorities in respect of necessary improvements to their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing systems and to counter proliferation financing.
