The Second Steering Committee meeting of the SRSP Project “Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Compliance: Implementing a National Mechanism to Assess and Manage Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks in Romania” was held virtually on 15 July 2021. The event brought together representatives from all main beneficiary institutions – the National Office for Prevention and Control of Money Laundering (Romanian FIU), National Bank of Romania, Financial Supervisory Authority, General Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Justice, Romanian Intelligence Service, Ministry of Internal Affairs – as well as representatives of the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe (CoE) Economic Crime and Cooperation Division.
The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the current stage of project implementation and notably the status of the ongoing Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Risk Assessment (NRA) which the authorities are conducting pursuant to the CoE Methodology. The representatives of national institutions provided an update on the data gathering and analysis process, exchanged experience on challenges encountered in the process and discussed with the participants different options to address such challenges. In order to further support the Romanian authorities in taking forward the NRA process, the Council of Europe will organise a Stock-taking NRA Workshop that will take place on 19 July 2021.
Participants also discussed follow-up activities and the timeline. Upon the finalisation of the NRA Report, the Council of Europe will further support the authorities with providing guidance in the process of development of the NRA Action Plan to mitigate and manage risks identified in the NRA Report.
The event was organised within the framework of the Structural Reform Support Programme initiative “Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Compliance: Implementing a National Mechanism to Assess and Manage Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks in Romania”, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.