MONACO: MONEYVAL evaluation of measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing
10.12.2022
International ▪ European Union ▪ FATF ▪ MONEYVAL
The 5th round of mutual evaluation of the Principality by MONEYVAL (Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism) started in 2020. The on-site visit took place from 21 February to 4 March 2022.
The Mutual Evaluation Report of the 5th cycle (2015-2021) of Monaco was discussed and adopted at the 64th plenary meeting of MONEYVAL (also marking the 25th anniversary of the Committee) held from 5 to 9 December 2022. See > https://www.coe.int/en/web/moneyval/-/moneyval-holds-its-64th-plenary-meeting-and-marks-its-25-year-anniversary
Adjustments to the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and corruption have already been made by Law No. 1.520 of 11 February 2022 (new subjects to the law, internal organisation requirement, bank correspondent, reform of the CERC procedure, etc.) and by Law No.1.537 of 9 December 2022 (activity of domiciliation) following the return of MONEYVAL’s evaluators as part of the technical evaluation of Monaco’s legal framework.
The Principality of Monaco shall take measures with equivalent effect to the European Union directives relating to the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorisme in accordance with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism (FATF), which are set out in Annex B of the Monetary Agreement concluded with the European Union, which has been in force since 1 December 2011.
As a reminder, MONEYVAL (Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism), a permanent monitoring body of the Council of Europe, is the “FATF-style regional body” responsible for evaluating the Principality of Monaco (the FATF directly evaluates its 38 members, including the neighbouring country which, like Monaco, will be subject to an on-site visit in 2021).
The evaluation system of MONEYVAL (Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism) is a peer review, i.e. a self-assessment and mutual evaluation process based on the FATF model, with a more comprehensive set of anti-money laundering standards.
The international standards on which MONEYVAL’s evaluations are based are as follows:
- 40 FATF Recommendations of 16 February 2012 on combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ;
- 9 FATF Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing ;
- United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 (Vienna Convention);
- United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime 2000 (Palermo Convention);
- Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime of 1990 (Strasbourg Convention);
- International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 1999 (New York Convention);
- United Nations Security Council Resolutions on the freezing of assets linked to terrorism;
- 5th Directive (EU) on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing.
- 6th Directive (UE) on combating money laundering by criminal law.