On 22 November 2022, the Council of Europe’s Economic Crime and Cooperation Division organised a Workshop on implementation tools and data sources for money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk profiling of obliged entities. The event was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, as part of the effort to support Lithuanian authorities to strengthen the Financial Crime Investigation Service’s risk-based supervision and its consequent supervisory approach. Over 23 representatives of the Lithuanian supervisory authorities for financial and non-financial sectors gathered to discuss the standards set by the FATF, possible methods and sources for data collection and international good practices on implementation tools and data sources for ML/TF risk profiling of obliged entities.

The workshop, which was implemented as one of the first activities under the joint European Union/Council of Europe Technical Support Instrument project on Strengthening risk-based AML/CFT supervision in Lithuania, represented the opportunity for participants to exchange on data collection processes and challenges through an interactive session led by a Council of Europe expert. Representatives with very diverse backgrounds actively exchanged experience on sectorial data needs, the use of a risk-based approach, and underlined the added value of the workshop in reflecting the importance of risk assessment and the quality of data in risk profiling processes.

The workshop provided valuable inputs for the upcoming preparation of a technical paper on data collection for risk profiling with a specific focus on higher risk sectors of obliged entities, which will be presented and discussed with the Lithuanian authorities during dedicated consultations.