The Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Insurance State Supervision Service of Georgia, organised a two-day hybrid training on “Anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance” specifically designed for insurance brokers.

The training is a part of a sequence of activities to support the effective and efficient compliance of financial institutions with AML/CFT requirements.  This is the first activity organised under the PGG-II GE project for insurance brokers, which under the Georgian AML Law of Georgia of 2019 have an obligation to report any activity raising suspicion of link to an economic crime. 

Although the insurance sector was  identified by the MONEYVAL 5th Round Evaluation Report of Georgia 2020 (MER)  as presenting low AML/CFT risks, the report also pointed to relevant remaining transversal challenges that required the attention of the authorities,  especially with regard to applying rules on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and Beneficial ownership, as well as concerns about the proportionality of sanctions.

Meeting participants discussed the applicable international AML/CFT standards in facing those challenges, as well as best practices in doing so presented by the Council of Europe. Despite the sectorial low risk, participants had the opportunity to raise any questions on the challenges they face in the practical implementation of  Customer Due Diligence; identification of beneficial owners; and the mechanisms for cooperation between reporting entities, the supervisors, and the Financial Monitoring Service (the Georgian Financial Intelligence Unit). 

This being a first training session with the insurance sector, a representative of the Financial Monitoring Service took the opportunity to present the applicable AML/CFT legal framework and authorities’ expectations, but also to discuss the understanding by Georgian authorities of the recommendations for the insurance sector included in MONEYVAL 5Th Round Evaluation Report of Georgia 2020. The exchange between the authorities and the insurance companies also offered a forum to discuss the National Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Risk Assessment of Georgia (2019) and the risks that the assessment has identified as most acute for insurance companies and products. 

This capacity-building activity contributed to the efforts by Georgian authorities’ in implementing MONEYVAL recommendations, which included the establishment of effective AML/CFT supervision, and the development of a sound understanding by supervisors and obliged entities of the AML/CFT risks associated with the sector, as well as the relevant AML/CFT obligations. 

The activity was organised in the framework of the project “Enhancing the Systems of Prevention and Combating Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Georgia”, funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance II.