In parallel with the ongoing Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorism Financing (TF) National Risk Assessment (NRA), the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) is assisting the Romanian authorities with assessing the ML and TF vulnerabilities of specific sectors of the national economy. In this regard, the ECCD has developed a Technical Paper (TP) containing a vulnerability assessment of legal persons and legal arrangements, with a focus on major business activities and customers profiles of legal persons and legal arrangements created in Romania.
The aim of the TP is to provide an overview of related Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards, to identify what aspects of the legal persons’ legal status and registration procedures make them particularly attractive for launderers, to assess the effectiveness of beneficial ownership identification, to identify vulnerabilities related to registration and beneficial ownership of non-profit organisations and to assess the newly introduced provision on trusts in the Romanian legislation.
The main findings and recommendations provided following the assessment were presented to the Romanian authorities during a workshop which took place in hybrid format on 21 October 2021 in Bucharest, Romania. The event brought together representatives of 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 and European Commission. Participants had the opportunity to comment and provide updated information gathered during the NRA process, as well as to further discuss some of the expert findings. Besides, the event allowed the Romanian authorities to discuss the strategic use of the assessment results, as a supporting document to the NRA and as a valuable source of information for developing the NRA Action Plan.
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.