Montenegro has made significant progress in improving its framework for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
This is the conclusion of the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Measures against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) in a monitoring report published today.
This report analyses what Montenegro has done to address the shortcomings identified in the evaluation report published in December 2023. Where sufficient progress has been made, MONEYVAL has reassessed the level of compliance.
"MONEYVAL notes that Montenegro has sufficiently addressed its shortcomings in relation to several recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). As a result, the country has been upgraded to 'largely compliant' for twelve recommendations - those relating to targeted financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorist financing, customer due diligence and other preventive measures, new technologies, regulation and supervision of financial institutions, and the maintenance of statistics relevant to the system of combating money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT) (recommendations 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26 and 33). MONEYVAL particularly highlights the significant amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, amendments to other legislative acts, as well as the adoption of regulations, the statement reads.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international body that sets global standards for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It was established in 1989 and its recommendations provide the basis for international financial cooperation. MONEYVAL acts as the European branch of the FATF and monitors how these recommendations are implemented in the member states of the Council of Europe.
Montenegro has also made some progress in relation to FATF recommendations relating to non-profit organisations, measures towards higher-risk countries, transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements, regulation and supervision of non-financial entities (such as casinos, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals, accountants and providers of company formation and management services), as well as sanctions (recommendations 8, 19, 24, 25, 28 and 35). As a result of the progress made in relation to recommendation 8 (preventing abuse of non-profit organisations), Montenegro has been upgraded to the level of “partial compliance”.
"However, the progress made was not sufficient to award upgrades for recommendations 19 (on higher-risk countries), 24 (on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal entities), 25 (on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal arrangements) and 28 (on regulation and supervision of non-financial sector obligors), and Montenegro maintained a "partially compliant" rating for these recommendations," the Report stated.
In total, out of 40 FATF recommendations, MONEYVAL assesses Montenegro as compliant with two recommendations, largely compliant with 31 recommendations, and partially compliant with seven recommendations.
"None of the FATF recommendations were assessed as non-compliant," the statement concluded.
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